What if we could write a letter to ourselves? A few years ago, Brad Paisley had a song about that. It was a letter from a guy to his seventeen-year-old self. It was pretty good, and it started me thinking.

Forty-four years ago you were seventeen. I was twenty-two. We were two kids starting out as broke as broke could be. I don’t know about you, but I was a little scared. I didn’t know if we would survive or not. We were naïve, and that was a good thing. But looking back, if I could write a letter to our younger selves from here in the future here is what I would say:

January 25, 1975

Don’t worry kids, you’ll make it just fine. It’s true that you can live on love, but you’ll also have to work very hard. I know starting out you’ll probably worry that you’ll run out of things to talk about. You won’t. Those times when you have nothing to say? You’ll just hold hands and appreciate the silence together. Someday you’ll look back and think that $75 a month house payment wasn’t too bad, even though there were months you wondered if you could make it. You may not always have a lot, but you’ll have enough. Believe it or not, you’ll never miss a payment, or a meal. All those movies you couldn’t afford to go to will be on something called Netflix in the future. And there will be something called the Hallmark Chanel, too. One of you will like that a lot. A whole lot.

There will be a time you’ll only have $16 dollars in the bank, and there will come a time when you won’t be able to give one of your children that bike for Christmas that she wanted. That’ll pretty much be rock bottom. It won’t get much worse than that. You’’ always be able to tithe, and things will get better.

That $125 truck ya’ll worried about buying – it was a good investment after all. And that time you wanted to purchase some gold with your tax return, but your cousin talked you out of it because he thought gold was a bad investment? You were right. He was wrong. A lot of those gut feelings you had back then were good things. You should have had a little more confidence in yourself, but that’s okay. You eventually made it.

When Tina’s mom gets sick and you two decide to move to Kentucky? It’ll turn out for the best. I know ya’ll prayed a lot over that one, but He heard you, and He answered with a whole new life. Good going. Praying is a good thing. Don’t ever stop.

And the kids; I know you’ll want to spend more time with them instead of working overtime in that mill, but they are going to turn out just fine. They’ll grow up, have kids of their own and finally understand why you worked all those hours so their mom could be at home with them.

I have to warn you about something, though. Take care of your backs or you won’t be able to play games with those grandchildren you’re going to have if you don’t. Cherish the scent of those children when you are holding them. Babies grow up quickly, and those moments are fleeting.

You two turned out to be a pretty good team. I know right now there are people doubting if you’ll make it. After all you both are pretty young and so, so green. But you’ll make it together, and you’ll have a wonderful life that others will grow to envy. Trust in Him, and trust those little voices within yourselves.

Hang on and enjoy the ride. You’re going to grow old together before you know it, and you’ll look back and wonder where the time went.

Goodbye for now. Someday in the future you’ll be looking in the mirror and have an odd feeling that you’ve been there before – you have. The older man and woman are hiding you. Then you will know that you have arrived.

Congratulations.

Well – life doesn’t come with a crystal ball, and we can’t go back and write letters to our future selves. Sometimes not knowing can be a good thing. Naivete has served us well. Naivete, hope, faith, and love. I’ve discovered they are good things.

Thank you for taking a chance on me forty-four years ago. It’s been the ride of a lifetime beyond my wildest expectations.

Happy Anniversary, Tina.