I had to cash my paycheck at my employer’s bank because of all of the issues we’ve had with my bank. Long story that you don’t care about…but anyways, I was asking about their Free Checking accounts and what they offer with that. I was directed to another lady who handles new accounts, she was the lady with the pamphlet goods apparently. As she was explaining the benefits of their offered account options, she stopped to ask my age, ” Well how old are you? 18?”
I replied, “No, 23.”
And she added, “Well, keep up the good work!”
I drove off thinking about the exchange and how I think it’s the first time someone thought I was younger than I am, it’s usually the other way around, although this time was based on looks, not personality.
My next thought was, “well, if she thought I was 18, that’s not that big of a difference I guess….WAIT, that’s FIVE years. I was 18 FIVE years ago. WEIRD. Now I feel kind of old!”
And I laughed about it all. I’m not old, 23 is not old AT ALL. But thinking about how 18 was 5 years ago just struck me as a long time ago! And to think that I thought I was so mature then. Ha. If I only knew.
Categories: Random?
Tagged: age, growing up
I’ve been thinking about how quickly time goes, and how the decisions you make change things in the future more than you could imagine.
5 years ago, I was one week away from graduating from high school. Excitement, nerves, questions, freedom and a driver’s license… The plan was to continue working and go to one of the local Junior Colleges, then transfer to a 4 year University and find some wonderful career and hopefully a wonderful guy.
Yeah. Reality turned out to be far from it. The working continued, and turned into a necessity when I moved out at 19. School slowly fizzled, probably in part due to the need to work. And therefore, I find myself 5 years out of high school with no degree, working full time and trying to figure out how to “make my dream happen”. And the guy part, well that just hasn’t happened, and I’m okay with it, some days more than others, because I don’t want to waste my time and heart.
One month from today I will turn 23. Which for some reason sounds much older to me than 22. And turning 22 was big because I didn’t have to deal with the, “oh you’re 21!!! cooooool!” response anymore, that drove me nuts. I don’t drink, so it was only exciting because it meant I was no longer limited on the concerts I could go to.
23…I can’t believe it. I’m guessing it’s harder for my parents to believe, but it’s weird to me too. In some ways it feels like I was just a kid yesterday. But in other ways I can see so much growth and I’ve been through so much that it seems like I should be 53, not 23!
I’m thankful to be where I’m at, even if it’s far from where I thought I’d be. 5 years ago I was only months away from coming to know Christ. 5 years ago was the beginning of new things. 5 years ago I had no idea of the hardships ahead, but I also had no idea how hugely God would bless me on the other side of those challenges. And this can only be true of my future as well.
No matter where you are, take a second to realize what it means. And then take a deep breathe and continue on, you never know what is up ahead.
Categories: future
Tagged: challenges, future, God, growing up, growth, life, past
