Flashback Friday: Writing Your Story One Week at a Time

 

Happy Friday, friends! Hope you’ve had a good week and have stayed safe. I’ve heard some crazy weather stories from all around the country this week! (And you remember that we scurried home in a storm whilst I was buried in groceries, right?) As you know, here on Fridays, we look back over earlier parts of life and look for creative ways to preserve our stories for future generations.

            Today we’re going to explore this question: What was the best part of your twenties?

            I’m sure we all have decades we didn’t love. And while my twenties were certainly not all bad, they were challenging in their own way. Even so, think about things like this as you circle back to the original question: What lessons did you learn that shaped you? What were the highlights of the decade? What life-shaping decisions did you make? What are you glad to not repeat? Remember: God wastes nothing!

            For me, here were some of the best parts of my twenties:

            I graduated from college. College was a significant journey for me – academically and in maturity. To complete that adventure successfully – and with honors – was an accomplishment I remain proud of to this day.

            I witnessed four babies coming into this world. A definite highlight to this decade. We are not going to talk about how two of those babies are twenty-somethings now and the third is graduating from high school. Nope. But those opportunities were true gifts.

 

            I got my start in church ministry and found I loved it. I started leading women’s Bible studies and women’s ministry at my local church, and I found how much I loved that sort of work. I am grateful for the church of my twenties and how well they invested in me and uncovered gifts in my heart.

            I moved out on my own for the first time and bought my first home. Both were stretches outside my comfort zone, and I am so proud of myself for being brave.

            I got a job that shaped me. It wasn’t my dream job. But it provided me with stability and growth. I had income, benefits, and a host of friendships that remain to this day.

(To be fair, this last picture is from my 30s, but the two show the bookends of that job.)

            I learned to cook and was pretty terrible at it in the beginning. Brownies that became burnies, undercooked chicken thighs, hard baked potatoes, cement brittle…I had some real adventures in the kitchen. But I slowly began to learn!

            I fell in love with scrapbooking. I did the traditional books back then, but goodness, the love of this has stayed with me all these many years. So grateful I found it and had such fun with it.

            I sold rubber stamps. Maybe that’s news to some of you! I was a Stampin’ Up! distributor for several years. It was so out of my comfort zone, but I made new friends with it and fed my own stamping and scrapping habits with the money I earned!

            You know, maybe my twenties were even better than I remembered. I’m glad I did this little exercise today!