Reflections of a 43-Year Old...

Yesterday I turned 43.

I remember being in High School - Economics class to be specific, which was really boring so I would daydream most of the time - and thinking, "I wonder what I will be when I'm 43".  Not sure why I chose the number 43 exactly, but that's what I remember thinking.  It's a very vivid memory for me.  And the weird thing is I specifically remember telling myself at that very moment in time, "When you are 43, think back to this day, when you were 17 years old".

Well here I am, and I'm remembering myself at 17.  I know the exact chair I was sitting in, the room, the teacher and even the kids sitting next to me, who are now my friends on Facebook.  And who could ever in their wildest dreams ever have envisioned Facebook in 1987???

So, Kim - 17 year-old Kim - you are now 43 and married to a wonderful man that you will meet in College, and mother to 3 amazing children.  Your parents are still here and healthy, praise God, and your siblings are close by with families of their own.  You have a home that you love, and are surrounded by friends that you cherish.  You teach 3rd Grade Sunday School in a church that God brought you to several years ago, that is not your home church, because God knows best.  You are blessed to be able to stay at home and raise your children while managing your own business, doing what you love, what you are passionate about, with the best friend you have ever known in your whole life, someone who right now, at 17 is just a casual friend, but when you are 43 will have changed your life for the better.

I would never go back.  Not in a million years, not for a million dollars.  And who knows, maybe when my almost 17 year-old is 43 that might be an option.  But right here, right now, at 43 I am the happiest, most content, most successful I have ever been.

Happy Birthday to me.