If your 6 year old version of yourself met your current self…would she let you babysit her??
The other day, a family friend sent an old home video from Christmas when I was six years old. In this minute long clip, it's clear how overly excited I am - at first, I'm singing and dancing to Stop Right Now - including some brief babbling cameos from my (practically) sister Danielle, and my 4 year old little runt-of-a-baby-brother Nick… then my attention is suddenly jolted to my Christmas cards, so you see me (wearing a little navy blue dress, stockings, and a plastic gold medal around my neck) run over to my Christmas cards then yell in my high-pitched little voice, "wanna see my Christmas cards?!" as I trip and stumble toward the camera in my excitement. Then I start to read out my card addressed to Anna Maria, from Santa Claus.
I was so caught off guard not recognizing my own voice. I guess I had never known it seemed so high-pitched. The video has really been stuck in my mind, to be honest; it makes me wonder how well I really grasp the way I come off to people now. Look at that super enthusiastic, bubbly little girl - how is she still the same, how has she changed up until now? Almost 15 years later, (being more than 3 times older than her, Jesus), the grown up version of that girl wonders if 6 year old version of herself would be proud of her.
That little girl grew up so lucky. She had to learn some hard lessons - life wasn't always Spice Girls and Santa Claus - but she has seen some truly beautiful things, gotten to travel to a few continents, and taken an uncountable number of extreme risks - a large step from having to sleep with the toy given to her at birth every single night until she was 8. Okay, 9. Okay…10. Maybe I won't fess up how old I was when I stopped needing to sleep with that thing - my Honey. I remember crying in my bed telling my mom I was scared to go to university someday because I didn't want to leave her or my Honey.
I believe it's important to reflect on and appreciate every circumstance and every person that's somehow shaped you, moulded you, carved out your very soul by hand - a masterpiece of a person, built nearly from scratch, ever-growing and ever-evolving.
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