The Meeting

Recently, I had a meeting with myself. The me from ten years ago. The meeting was set up by the WordPress daily prompters. They suggested that we meet for coffee. But I don’t like coffee. So I changed the rules by meeting at Hardee’s for breakfast biscuits and orange juice. Not the healthiest of choices, per se, but I’ve always liked the biscuits, just as I did ten years ago.

I wanted to give myself some knowledge of things to come in the future. Ten years ago, he was happily married, but he wouldn’t know that as the years would pass, that marriage would begin to deteriorate. And as that happened, he would face his greatest life challenge to date—the breakup of his marriage and how to cope with the loss. Though he did what he could to keep the marriage going, he realized that he was he only one who wanted it to continue. And so he watched who he thought was the love of his life walk right out of the door, and not long after, into the arms of someone else.

I told ten-year-ago me that there would be grieving, and a struggle to cope with the loss. But that he would cope. There would be days where he didn’t want to get up in the morning. Days when he thought people would look at him differently. His finances would hit the wall, but eventually, they would get better. And that his emotions would be up and down for a while, but that he would get settled, with the help of counseling and his friends.

I also told him that he would be living alone ten years in the future. The me from ten years ago could hardly believe this; at that time, there were four people in the house together. But yes, the girls grew up, and the wife was gone—but you would be fine with this change. Being on your own was an opportunity to grow, and learn about yourself. The self you pushed to the background while supporting everyone else. I told him that things would be looking up, even as I went through a lot to get where I am now. That while things aren’t quite where I’d like them to be, I’m grateful that they aren’t where they were a few years back.

Finally, I would tell him that when he gets to where I am, he could look back and see the many ways he had grown-emotionally and spiritually. He would be in a better place, even though there was a lot of unhappiness and grief to get through. I would tell him to use the lessons that he will learn over the course of that time to realize that he can succeed, move forward and even thrive.