Eight Years Ago....

My time hop told me that eight years ago today I was going to my senior prom.

I remember that day pretty clearly. It began slowly, a normal morning, with cereal for breakfast.  And then late morning arrived and all the festivities started to begin, slowly and then all at once.  There was the hair appointment, and having my best girlfriends come over to get dressed and put on makeup together (and dancing around my parent’s bathroom), and putting on a beautiful dress.  There was an unimaginable amount of photos taken. And then dates arrived and more friends arrived and more photos were taken.   And then the next thing we knew, we were off to dinner and a dance to celebrate the night.  We were young and living life to the fullest.

I remember that girl pretty clearly.  She was having one of her best days.  There was that excitement of having her hair done for an event.  There was nothing that separated her and her girlfriends.  She was in that in-between time where she was still a little girl finishing her last year of school and about to become a woman and spread her wings and leave the nest for college.  I know she had struggles, but the details are a little foggy.  (Probably having something to do with why she still hadn’t found her person, wasn’t that the reason we moved in the middle of her high school years anyway, so she could meet her person?)  But I also remember she was brave.  So brave.  She was ready for that adventure that loomed over her head. She knew her family would always be her core, but she was ready for the unknown and the next steps toward college and whatever else may happen.

And then college came.  And it was nothing like I would have ever predicted.  The polar opposite that the girl described above would have ever dreamed.  Yes, my first semester was probably my boldest (followed by my last semester).  I spent four and a half years in this stage of my life and it was no doubt, they hardest four years of my life.  I spend way too much time with the wrong people, the kind that scratch the surface, but don’t create long, meaningful impressions.  I found some very incredible friends that will last a lifetime, but not that group of friends you are always told you’d meet in college.  I had multiple heartaches, those from boys and those from life events.  I watched my dad get sick and my extended family fade away as I lost grandparents one by one.  Like I said, nothing I ever expected.  But looking at this photo, it is funny to see and know what all has changed and what all has stayed almost exactly the same between this group of young women.  Out of the six of us, five still remain.  In eight years we have seen one child, almost five marriages (two are currently engaged, me included), two parents diagnosed with cancer, six college graduations (from five different schools), two out of state moves… just to name a few of the most major events.  It is these girls who have stood by my side and I’m grateful.

This photo holds such sentimental feelings.  Flash forward eight years and give me about five more months and this photo will be recreated and I’m going to go through something very similar.

I am going to have that day memorized as clearly as possible.  It will probably begin very similar, with cereal for breakfast.  And then when the day really begins, I will have my hair done, get dressed and put on makeup with my best girlfriends (and maybe dance around the room too), and put on a beautiful dress.  There are going to be photos taken all day long and the next thing I’ll know I’ll be going to dinner and a dance.  But this time it will be a white dress and my date will be the most incredible person I’ve ever met and he will be all mine.  They day will be all mine and I’ll live it to the fullest.

I am going to have that woman memorized as clearly as possible.  It is going to be the best day of her life.  The day she has dreamed about since forever.  She is going to be stunning and the day will be all hers.  She is going to be in that in-between time where she is still a little girl and about to become the role that will define the rest of her life, a wife.  There will be that uncharted territory and excitement for what her life unfolds.  There will be challenges, for that I am certain.  But she is going to be strong.  So strong.