Dear Shar;
As I look 50 straight square in the face I can tell you a few things.
You are brave and your soul guides you. Keep close to that, you don’t know and may never learn the limits that can be there. When you think you have reached your limit, you are wrong. It can get better, and it can get worse.
It will not make sense but your family losing your home, your stuff, and your friends at 10 years old is the best thing that will happen to you. You will move across the country and be reborn. You will get a fresh start and build yourself the way you want to grow. Learn that money doesn’t buy love. Learn to work hard and struggle. This will prepare you for life.
You will do things you shouldn’t and be a pretty wild teenager, but just like the wind of change that took you to Florida. The winds will change and you will return to Wisconsin to become a woman.
Your twenties are great. You get to start making decisions and you will. Some good, others not so good. Each time you change, you have to rebuild. Find new friends and build a new support network. This too prepares you for the future.
The Thirties are a time of settling and having a family, building a career, and setting groundwork for your future. Make a career in a field that few people recognize as an opportunity. Find that taking the road less traveled is where you can pave your own road. Your career takes shape and you start to soar.
When you get to forty you have seen more than you bargained for. You have lost several jobs, your husband loses his job and goes to school for years while you march forward hauling the load. At the time you reach forty, you finally realize that you don’t care what people think of you. That is most of the time. Somehow this is a familiar pattern to you at 10, but you know this path. You are successful, and you will be successful this time as well.
Staring the face of 50, I have many fantastic friends, and I am blessed that God continues to guide me in my journey.
What would you say to your younger self?
Shar Hermanson 