A Trip Down Memory Lane...

The closet cleaning process was oh so interesting. A pack rat I am not(at least not in my opinion); a sentimental person, I am. I hold onto letters, cards, photos, and plane tickets. I tuck them away in shoe boxes or a hat box I received for graduation, and as time passes, I forget they exist.

Until I am motivated to clean out a closet and re-discover these treasures I have tucked away. I found a lot of interesting things when cleaning on my closet, such as:

• A letter I wrote to myself in 7th grade. Back then I thought I wanted to be a pediatrician or a teacher... Now I have a math degree, almost have an MBA, and work in Finance! Not quite the life I imagined at that age! So thankful I live in a country where I don't have to choose my future career at a super young age! And I could still change my mind 10 years from now, who knows!
• The keys to my first car, a 1989 Red Toyota Celica. When my dad went to buy my car, I gave him 2 specifications: Red, please, with a working radio. Boy I had high standards back then, huh? That was the best car and actually started better than the new Honda I have since replaced it with.
• Packets of plane tickets/travel itineraries for my flight to Australia to study abroad and my 7 day tour of the south island of New Zealand. There is no practical reason to hold onto these packets but I couldn't bear to part with them. They represent such an important era of my life
• A little book given to me right before I left for my semester in Australia, filled with notes from my best girlfriends, wishing me well on my adventure.

These were so fun to look at and brought back many memories, but the best discovery was found in my living room closet.

Tucked away in a shoe box, I found the best gift I have ever received: a journal my mom kept of my senior year of high school. She journaled nearly every day, in secret, and gave this to me on the morning of my high school graduation. I hadn't read this since the day I received it, and since finding it, I'm slowly making my way through it. I'm up to March so am nearing the end.

It's not the easiest thing to read, to be quite honest. My senior year was tumultuous to say the least. Here's a cliff notes version:

Lisa dates Brian (most serious boyfriend during high school). Brian and Lisa break up. Lisa dates Brian's best friend, David. Months later, Lisa and David break up. Days later Lisa and Brian get back together. Months later, Lisa and Brian break up. Lisa dates Mitch, another guy Brian was quasi-friends with. A month later (and the day after prom), Lisa and Mitch break up. D-R-A-M-A

The journal reads like a Lifetime movie or a Soap Opera. Add in the stress of applying for colleges, a bad case of mono that kept flaring up, and the mother/daughter relationship struggles that are typical of this time of a teen girl's life, and, well, you've got the makings of a serious page turner.

It's weird to read about my 17/18-year-old self. In many ways, I am way more independent than I was back then (thank God). But I still have some shared traits. Like how I fall in love so easily and wear my heart on my sleeve. Or how I still struggle with arguing with a parent or boyfriend without interpreting everything they say in the worst possible way.

I'm so thankful for this journal. I hope that someday, when I hopefully have a daughter of my own, I will be to pay this forward to her.