I have been out in Washington DC for the last few days and I was reminded of how beautiful Virginia is.  I lived in Vienna, Virginia when I was a teenager in High School and during this visit I was able to drive past the house I used to live in while I was there that I haven’t seen in nearly 30 years! It was amazing to drive up to the house and have a million memories flood back into my mind as if they happened just yesterday. As I looked up at what used to be my second story bedroom window I could picture myself at 16 years old hanging out in my room listening to my 80’s music cassette tapes while cutting out pictures from fashion magazines to hang on my walls.

I couldn’t help but think to myself, “If only that 16 year old girl knew all the things she would face in her life…all the struggles she would go through….the heartaches she would experience…the fears she would have to face….the years of loneliness and struggles she’d have as a single mom….the businesses she would build…the ups and the downs she would have to get through….the burdens she would shoulder…the lessons she would learn…the two beautiful children she would be blessed with who would grow-up to become the most amazing adults…the awesome daughter-in-law she would have that would give birth to a perfect little grandson that would become the sun moon and stars…the tears that she would shed….the incredible people she would get to interact with…the happiness she would feel…the countless blessings that would be bestowed upon her…

If that 16 year old girl had been told what lay in store for her over the next 30 years of her life she would never have been able to believe it. She would never have thought she could be strong enough to get through all the hard times. She would never have believed she was capable of standing strong through all the trials. She would never have thought she was smart enough to achieve all her successes in business…

But she was strong enough, and capable enough, and smart enough, and that is the point. We are ALL so much stronger, more capable, and smarter than we have even begun to realize. Whatever age we are today I believe that if our future selves could talk to us right now they would say “Know that there are challenges ahead that won’t be easy, but know that getting through them will be worth it…and you ARE going to get through them… All of them… And you will be better for it.”

Have a joyous weekend everyone!

~Amy Rees Anderson