May 29, 2014

Prom 2014 - An Epiphany

At 23 years old, I was able to re-live prom last Thursday. I know, I know, I consider myself a very fortunate person too. :) While I enjoyed my actual prom as a student, I was beyond excited when I found out I was going to be one of the chaperone's date. Also known as my English teacher boyfriend. While it was raining outside and I was so behind in getting ready (I had to work that day which is kind of ironic seeing as how I was going to prom. Big-girl-real-world problems), I had an awesome time. And it wasn't just the delicious food or my killer heels or my amazing date or his fun friends or the dancing or the sneaking of alcohol into our cocktails, though that all measured up. It was how happy I felt to be exactly where I am. 

Normally, at something like this, I would internally freak out about any missed opportunities from when I was in high school or how old I'm becoming - I am entering my mid-twenties next month - or how much I miss where I was when I was 18: a graduating high school senior, a summer camp counselor, and an incoming college freshmen doing new things and meeting new amazing friends. Instead, I thought about how lucky I am to have been able to experience that period, especially because it's so fleeting. If I was able to go back and repeat my late teenage years, I definitely would, but that's not the point - the point is that you can't, so you might as well enjoy the moments you're in while you're in them because time will soon move you on. For once, I didn't see myself through another's eyes - in this case a student seeing me as an older person being the teacher's date - but through my own eyes as a young twenty-something who was able to get nostalgic for the night and then go home and hang out with her boyfriend watching the second season of House Of Cards

I've finally come to the conclusion to just enjoy where I am, at the age I am, doing the things I'm doing today. Because five years from now I'm going to be looking back at 23 and think about how it was the year I stopped comparing myself to my younger versions and began to appreciate where I am in that moment.

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