Day after Thanksgiving 2004

Dear Jen,

You’ve spent today realizing the guy you brought to Thanksgiving dinner with the family isn’t “the one”.  Your gut will be an electric mixer as you end it over a phone call at 2 pm. You’ve had a rough year, and (spoiler alert) it will get worse.

A disgruntled former employee will slash your tire leaving you stranded until midnight at work. Your boss will tell you that you’re on written warning,  that she has no confidence in your ability to change, and will probably end up firing you.

Your passenger car window will be shattered by a car prowler while you attend a company Christmas dinner, leading you to file a second police report in two weeks before your frigid 42 minute drive home.

You may choose to backslide into some familiar self destructive patterns, and abandon hope for the future life you’ve imagined. Don’t.  You aren’t already been chewed, blueberry, Hubba Bubba, covered in gravel, on the bottom of life’s shoe.

Next year, in 2005, you will toast at Thanksgiving in New York with the adorable husband (you haven’t met yet), his 97 year old grandmother and the rest of your new family. You will cry from the dynamic shift your life has taken, and overwhelming joy in your life.

Have hope.  These trials are teaching you patience you’ll rely on for the other stuff coming I can’t tell you about yet.

You’ve got this!

Love,

Jen

from the day after Thanksgiving 2015

 

Genealogy Jen’s challenge of the week – Life rarely goes according to plan. If a time-traveling  DeLorean is not an option to change your past, write your former self a letter.  What advice do you need most?   Bonus Points- Identify a person who may be experiencing something similar now, and reach out to them.

You can read the post that inspired this letter here.