A Place In Time...

The other day I was standing in the checkout line when I overheard a group of adults having an interesting conversation. They were talking about what time in their lives they would go back to if they could choose just one.

There was one condition: if they went back, they would keep all the knowledge they have today and be able to use that to make decisions.

Now that is an interesting question. It stuck with me for days afterward.

I know one place I wouldn’t go back to - grade school. That’s just far too much school to redo again. No thanks. 

High school is a maybe. It wasn’t a bad time in my life. I had some really great friends, life was fairly carefree, and there wasn’t a ton of responsibility. It might not be a bad time to choose. But again... so much school!

I definitely wouldn’t go back to college. I had wonderful friends and I loved what I studied, but overall it wasn’t the best season of my life. I was struggling with a lot of things, dealing with the consequences of some of my choices, and learning some very hard lessons. Even though there were many good experiences mixed in, the difficult parts outweighed them. I just wouldn’t want to go through all of that again.

But those few years after college… that’s where I think I’d go back to.

My early twenties.

It was a short window of time when everything important in my life seemed to come together. I had a job I liked. I had great friends. I had both my mom and my dad. And my relationship with my mom and dad had grown into something new. We had become friends in a way that often happens once you’re out on your own. The world felt safer then, and the future somehow felt steadier.

I only had a few years of that before my mom passed away, but those years were some of the most beautiful in my life.

If I could go back anywhere, it would be there. I’d relive those years again and again. And still... I wouldn't use the knowledge I had to make other decisions, because I think my life has taken the path it was supposed to take and it's been a great ride.

It’s funny how a simple question overheard in a checkout line can send you down a path of reflection like that. Maybe the real gift isn’t going back at all, but remembering the seasons that shaped us and the people who made them meaningful.

So now I’m curious.

If you could go back to one period of your life - while keeping the knowledge you have today - what time would you choose?