Twenty Years Ago

Have you ever been struck by such an urge to clean that you end up with an empty closet and piles and piles of memories surrounding you? This has been such an emotional year for me personally, hence all the sappy blogs! I will snap out of it, I promise, but in the meantime, I'm attempting to declutter and downsize and I'm allowing myself the space to feel all the feelings that come with that, and there are a lot of them! 

I found this blog's image in an old tin box, and it stopped me in my tracks. It's a photo of me at 22 years old at my wedding with my two-year-old daughter. So much has changed since then! That marriage did not work out; I had no idea who I was or what I wanted twenty years ago. I had no real communication skills, barely any parenting skills, and certainly no clue how to advocate for my own needs. I hardly knew what my needs were. Twenty years ago feels like a lifetime away now - a time when I was learning and growing and changing at a pace so excruciatingly slow yet breathtakingly fast all at the same time! 

Of course, this photo made me delve deeper, into a world of old school pictures, homemade Christmas and Mother's Day cards, and baby's first shoes. I realize twenty years ago I was but a baby myself, navigating a crazy world while trying to raise my own babies. I look at myself in this photo and am mesmerized by my youthful skin! I also see not one, but two girls who have never given up. 

The woman in this photo barely wrote at all, a poem or two here and there that maybe someday I'll be brave enough to publish... The woman in this photo was struggling to work full time while going to school while being a mom. Beyond all that, the woman in this photo was brave, adventurous, and a bit crazy... Qualities I still see in the mirror today! Possibly a bit crazier! Twenty years ago, I was just beginning my journey, a journey I happily sprinkle throughout my books today.

While I have been cruising down memory lane this summer, I've also been VERY busy writing! IRIS will, hopefully, be out in November, and I cannot wait for you to read her spicy story! Starting in the outskirts of Boston, to the Bethel, Maine area, Iris's journey is one you will not want to miss! Life is, after all, but a journey...