The Nostalgia Meme

I’ve been tagged by Chappyswife to do a nostalgia meme. What is that you ask? I’m to tell you what I was doing ten, twenty and thirty years ago. I’m 46 years old and I hope I can remember that far back. I have trouble remembering what I ate for lunch the day before, but let’s give it a go.

Ten years ago it was 1997 and we were living in West Virginia. Tom and I were church planters. It was the first time we done such a thing and it was difficult. West Virginia was a hard place for us but we learned so much by being there. The lessons learned helped us to pastor the church God sent to us now. Just because something is difficult doesn’t make it bad (at the time you couldn’t have convenience me of that). During those hard days I often cried out to God, “Did you send me here to die.” Yes he did, but in a good way. I died to my flesh and learned to love people when it wasn’t easy to love them. I learned so much about who I was in Him and it helped me to grow as a person. The great thing is that I know I’m still evolving and I’m still learning.

Twenty years ago it was 1987 and I was 26 years old with two small children living in New York. When we started to have kids we made the decision for me to stay home. It wasn’t an easy decision because I had a good job. It was only a job to me and not a career. I only missed the paycheck to be honest. I never regretted it for an instant. I’m grateful for the times our families helped us out financially. God always knew when things were a bit tight and somehow someone gave us what we needed to pay the bills. I loved being a mom. I loved taking care of the kids and Tom. I was one of those overly prepared moms that took almost the whole nursery with me when we traveled. I was comfortable being that anal. I’m very grateful I was able to stay home with the kids until they started school.

Thirty years ago it was 1977 and I was 16 years old. What I didn’t know was that in a couple of months (February 11, 1978) my life would change forever. I would start to date the man I would eventually marry. The funny thing about that was I never thought I would fall in love so young. I remember having a conversation with my best friend. I told her I didn’t want to get married until I was about 25 years old. I paused for about a minute. I then said, “Something inside of me tells me that by the time I’m 18, I’ll be engaged and by the time I’m 19, I’ll be married.” That was exactly what happened. He’s a good man and I’m still passionately in love.

If anyone of you would like to do this meme, consider yourself tagged. Let me know so I can check out your answers.

© Nadine Z. 2007