Letter to Myself at 20

I turned 25 years old this week.  For some reason that sounds SO much older than 24.  Like, last week I was still in my "early twenties," which means I was in the phase of life where I graduate from college and putz around for a little while until I decide what I want to do with myself.  Now I'm closer to 30 than to 20, which means, "You've better get your crap together.  Time is ticking."  Eeeeek!

One fun part about turning 25 is that I got to go back and read a letter that I wrote to myself five years ago, when I was 20.  If you're settled in and you're going to be here a while, you can check out that letter HERE.  I figure now that I'm 25 and got to finally read the letter that was addressed to me, it's only fair that I write back.  To myself.  Which sounds a little trippy, actually, but I'm doing it anyway.  Here we go:

Dear Me-at-20,

Would it make you feel better if I tell you that everything turned out exactly as you wanted it to?

Because really...it kind of did.  Perhaps it doesn't make for a very exciting letter, but you basically stuck to your life plan and rocked it.  You graduated in three years, married Rex when you were 21 (you're about to get engaged, by the way), moved to Las Vegas (yes, you read that right. VEGAS.), zipped around the country doing fabulous things for a while, wrote a book, eventually moved back to Kalamazoo to chill with your siblings (Rex's end up feeling like yours too), and landed your dream job at a fantastic school while freelance writing for magazines on the side.  Health problems are basically nil.  Your brain is doing fine.  And you were so worried...

Can you breathe a sigh of relief now?  Can you stop freaking out?  Because everything is OKAY.  And really, even if that entire first paragraph was lies and you didn't do any of that cool stuff, you would still probably be okay.  You need to stop worrying about the future.  Stop writing letters to me and spend some time enjoying being you (20 year old you.  I mean me.  I mean...this is confusing).  Not that I didn't like your letter, mind you.  It was great.  I'm just saying that you have to be careful to not spend so much time planning out your life that you forget to live it.

Example: college is SWEET.  I would love to go back to college for a while, but I can't.  I'm too old.  You're still there, though!  Whoooo hooo!  You're going to meet a girl named Katie in a couple of weeks.  She's basically nuts, but also pretty cool.  You're going to be the maid of honor in her wedding this summer.  Spend more time with Elle too, because she ends up being your neighbor in Las Vegas (again, so weird that you lived there), and she's one of the best friends you'll ever have.  Hmmm....what else should you know....  Oh!  Get football tickets.  You keep trying to save money, which is really admirable, but now I'm too old to get student tickets and I wish I would have.  Big Ten football is where it's at.  And MSU beats U of M in overtime this year, so go to that game.  It's pretty awesome, but I didn't get to go.  Start saving up now, too, because MSU is going to the Rose Bowl in 2014 (and they win).

Let's see... I guess you want to know about the family.  Cara turned out fabulous.  Shame on you for thinking she would be nuts!  Although...remembering Cara at age 13...I can definitely see why you thought that.  Mom and Dad are doing well.  They're talking about retirement soon and selling "the big house," which I'm pretty sure they were actually talking about five years ago too.  Jake goes to Michigan State for college, which is deliciously ironic.  Tom is at Western, and Michelle is graduating from dental school this year on the same day that Rex is graduating from physical therapy school (May 18!).  Everyone's fabulous.  Nana still thinks that the internet is going to run out of cyberspace.  Grandma and Grandpa Koopsen are both gone, which actually is really sad, but they're together in heaven so at least that's good.

Your family has grown a little bit since you were 20.  (No kids - don't freak out).  You and Rex have a beagle named Elvis and a cat named Elsie.  They're so cute and fun.  Elsie is a little evil, but that's really just part of her charm.  Elvis is a total dork, but you will love him.  OH - and this is very important - you think that pug dogs are really ugly and strange looking, but that's because you're horribly unenlightened.  They're actually the cutest dogs ever and now I want one really badly.  You meet an eight-week-old pug named Gus next year, and he basically changes everything about your dog perspectives.

You're still trying to read through the whole Bible in order (sorry that that isn't done yet...), but you're making good progress.  Also, you've done a pretty good job of actually looking at your faith as a relationship with God instead of a checklist of "Christiany things to do."  So actually, the fact that you're not through the whole Bible yet doesn't really bother you a ton.  The fact that you're reading it is what matters.

Cars don't run on water yet, sorry.  Maybe when you're thirty.

Sincerely,
25-year-old you