Day 34: Write a letter to yourself to open on your 75th birthday.

Challenge Day 34: Write a letter to yourself to open on your 75th birthday. What are your dreams for yourself? What was most important? What messages would you share with yourself at that age given the perspective you have now?

November 4, 2013

Dear Alyssa,
If you are reading this letter, it is the occasion of your 75th birthday. Happy birthday and congratulations!

If I did my job well, you are surrounded by loved ones and maybe even away adventuring in some exotic, distant land. If I did my job well, your face wears beautifully the lines of too much smiling.

I am writing this letter to you as part of the 50 Days to Fabulous 50 Challenge that you did before your 50th birthday. Remember? It was 50 days of challenges intended to bring positivity to your life and the lives of others so you’d turn 50 feeling absolutely fabulous. You were seeking ways to help you love and live more fully. Did it work?

I, the-Alyssa-nearing-50, have some regrets that I have not allowed myself to enjoy life enough. I’ve spent too much time being too hard on myself and angry about unimportant things. My goal is be kind to myself and others and learn to see the beauty in the world. Please tell me, 75-year-old-Alyssa, that those regrets gone. Can you say “mission accomplished”?

That’s not to suggest the journey is over. Oh, not at all. The joy in life is in the living every day. I bet you still love to stretch and challenge yourself. I hope you never stop striving. My hope is simply that you learned long ago that you don’t need improving to be good and worthy of love. You are wonderful just as you are and always have been.

I bet you still love long walks and getting up early. Do you still practice yoga? Are you a grandmother yet? Do you still love looking up to the sun to feel the warmth on your face? Did you ever learn to play golf? Oh, I have so many things to ask you.

I wish I could be there to hug you and whisper “I love you” into your ear. But I can’t. My gift to you instead is you. All that I am and doing now, I do for you. Your generosity, your warmth, the ache in your heart from loving so deeply, they are all my gifts to you. This work I do now, this soul searching, the apologies, the epiphanies, the tears of regret, of realization, of joy, they are all for you. The tenderness where once was hardness, is for you. The ability to see beauty and joy in the world is for you. I swept away the little annoyances and replaced them with charming life lessons. I showed you that it takes more strength to be gentle. I gave you hope. I put my faith in you. I replaced your fear with courage. I gave you all my love forever and ever.
Love,
Alyssa

P.S. Will you please buy me a beer and toast me?