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A letter to my "last year self"

I've been doing a lot of reminiscing lately. Last year at this time, we were packing for our 5 month adventure to San Antonio, TX to Randolph Air Force Base. I remember feeling optimistic. In fact, I remember thinking San Antonio was going to be this lush, green, fabulous city of love.

It wasn't. It had a fake, man-made river with cheesy chain restaurants along it, that drunk people frequently fell in. It was in a horrid drought. The highlight of San Antonio was it's movie theater that served delicious beer and food!

I didn't love San Antonio. However, believe it or not, I look back at that phase is fond memories. I am recently finding myself longing to relive some of those days, believe it or not. I counted down the days to returning to AZ, but I remember even thinking, "I'm going to look back on this phase with a soft heart...."

I was right! I miss cozy nights of crock-pot scrambled eggs in our humid & tiny Air-Force-Inn hotel room.

So here goes my letter to "my last year self":

Dear you,

You get to escape normal life for 5 months! Live it. Breath it. Experience it. Stop worrying. In 5 months you'll return to your home with your yard work, house cleaning, pool maintenance, and responsibilities. You'll return to your job - your hospital where you know everyone and everyone knows you. You'll return to your running group, they aren't going anywhere. Your friends aren't going anywhere. If they do, then they aren't your true friends.

You get 5 months of no house-keeping. I know you love to clean house, but isn't it kind of nice to have a day off from work that doesn't have 6 hours of cleaning on your "to do list"?

Initially getting your travel-assignment contract figured out will be stressful...but don't worry - there are many many lives to save in the ER's of San Antonio. You're going to learn so much, and gain so much ability by jumping from hospital to hospital on a daily basis!

Enjoy this short phase of life, where you main job is exercising and cooking funny crock-pot meals for your husband. You get to have lunch with a hot-shot in his flight suit. Your evenings will be spent at Starbucks with his classmates and spouses - quizzing them. You'll get to know the wives - and have some incredible memories with these people!

These 5 months will teach you something very bold about life. It will teach you that you can put yourself in any environment and figure it out. There were a lot of unknowns in this adventure - and things seemed to work out. Never turn down another opportunity like this! Ever again!

You will return to AZ - to your home. But you may feel a little different. You may feel more vivacious. You will take more risks. 5 months in an Air Force Inn in hot, sweaty San Antonio will change the way you think about life.....




Have you ever looked back, and wanted to write a letter to yourself? What phase of your life would you do this to? I'm sure the more you experience in life, the more you would want to "write letters to your old self"....

Comments

Marlys said…
If I would write a letter to my "old self" it would turn into a book! I love this idea and what you learned about yourself in the process! I think I've learned that most of life's experiences can teach us something and make us stronger people even if they were difficult times. I'm glad you are looking back on that experience with fondness! Life is all about enjoying the journey, where ever it may lead!
It's crazy to think that was a year ago - and that you spent 5 months there! That is a long time! I am glad that you can look back on that experience and see that you learned some valuable lessons.

There are a lot of phases of my life that I'd like to be able to send a letter to myself - like during my Target experience, after tough break ups, and the times in Charlotte when I felt like I'd be trapped there for way too long.

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