17 Again

         17 Again, yes that is the title of a Zac Efron movie that came out a year or so ago.  This movie was definitely not what I thought it was going to be.  It was marketed as a teeny-bopper movie with Mr. High School Musical in the lead role.  However, I found this movie to be so much more.  It was actually more for an older generation.

            For those not familiar with the movie it deals with a man in his 40s whose marriage is headed for divorce, he hates his job and his kids hate him.  He is lost.  A guardian angel appears and asks him if he could go back and change it all would he want to and he of course says yes.  Poof, he is 17 again, but living in the same time as his kids.  What he finds is that he really did make the right decision by marrying his high school sweetheart when she found out she was pregnant and he desperately wants to get back to his normal life and save it.

            I have thought a lot about this concept the last couple of years, especially after losing my job.  If I could go back would I make the same choices?  If I had chosen differently would I be better off?  The truth is, I’ll never know.  I must play the hand I was dealt, better yet the hand that I drew.  Our life is a series of decisions and we must live with what each one of those decisions brings about. 

When I finished my college degree I could have very easily found a job and moved away from my family in Alexander City.  However, I chose to return home to be near my grandparents in their final years.  I know without a doubt that this was the right decision because it gave me precious time with two wonderful people.  I can’t go back and change that choice, nor would I want to change it.  I have figured out that I can’t live in the past, I have to look to the future and deal with what the present gives me.  There are dozens of other choices I could look back on and wonder if I made the right one, but really where would that get me now?

            Not long after I lost my job I read Elizabeth Edward’s book Resilience.  One of my favorite lines in the book states, “You can’t change the wind, but you can adjust your sails.”  Wow, why is it so hard for us to learn that lesson?  We absolutely cannot change what happens to us, but we can change ourselves to adjust to the changes that come about.  Remember, if you focus on what happened yesterday or worry about what is going to happen tomorrow, you miss what is in front of you today.  If we are all faithful and live life to the fullest, life can be an amazing journey.  Don’t miss it by looking backwards or wishing you could be “17 again and change it all!”  Until next time….