Back in the Day: When Watching the Next Generation Reminds You of Who You Used to Be
Back in the Day: When Watching the Next Generation Reminds You of Who You Used to Be 🌅
By Angel,
Founder of AMC Rise and Thrive
🌅 Welcome,
Friend
Well… this post is a little late tonight. 😂
But honestly?
Sometimes you have to live the day before you can write about
it.
Today was one of those days.
We spent the day at the beach, enjoyed the pool, ate some good
food, watched football, and somewhere along the way I managed to squeeze in a
nap.
And let me tell you something:
That nap was necessary.
Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is put your
phone down, close your eyes, and let your body have a few minutes of peace. 😂
But somewhere between the beach, the food, the football, and
watching my son interact with the world around him, I found myself thinking
about something I don't always stop to consider.
My youth feels like it happened a very long time
ago.
Not necessarily in a bad way.
Just… in a wow, look how much life has happened since then
kind of way.
And sometimes all it takes is one funny little moment to
remind you.
💛
Apparently My Son Has Discovered Girls
So, here's what happened.
We were heading back from the pool when my son noticed a
couple of young women who were probably in their twenties.
Very pretty girls.
And they definitely had his attention.
He kept saying hello.
Over and over.
Now, for many parents, that might sound like a very ordinary
interaction.
For me?
I was celebrating.
Because when you are an autism parent, there are certain
moments that may look incredibly small to somebody else but feel absolutely
enormous to you.
Hearing your child speak is beautiful.
But hearing him use the right word, in the right context,
at the right time?
That's a whole different kind of celebration.
So, there I was, watching my son repeatedly say hello to these
young women, thinking:
"Okay! Look at you!" 😂
Then I started trying to explain to him that he needed to be
smooth.
You know…
Cool.
Casual.
Don't stare.
Maybe don't say hello seventeen times.
Let's give the ladies a little breathing room, son.
But apparently my coaching career needs some work because he
was not interested in being smooth.
He was interested in saying hello.
And honestly?
I couldn't help but laugh.
But while I was watching him, something else was happening
inside of me.
I started thinking about what it must feel like to be young
again.
And that thought stayed with me.
🌱 When Did
Youth Become "Back in the Day"?
Have you ever had one of those moments where you suddenly
realize that you're no longer the age you still feel like you are in your head?
Because I have.
There are days when I still feel like the woman who was
driving around with music playing in her car, making plans, figuring things
out, wondering what life would become.
And then something happens.
A birthday comes around.
A younger person calls you ma'am.
Someone talks about a time period you remember living through
as though it were ancient history.
Or you watch young people flirting at the pool and realize:
"Oh… I'm the older generation now." 😂
It's a strange realization.
Because getting older doesn't necessarily feel the way we
imagine it will.
There isn't always some dramatic moment where you wake up and
suddenly feel different.
Instead, time reveals itself in little ways.
A younger generation begins doing the things you remember
doing.
Children become teenagers.
Teenagers become adults.
Adults begin having children of their own.
And suddenly you aren't standing at the beginning of the story
anymore.
You're watching the next chapters unfold.
That can bring up a lot of emotions.
Nostalgia.
Gratitude.
Maybe a little sadness.
Maybe even a tiny bit of disbelief.
Because where did all that time go?
🌿 The
Strange Beauty of Watching Life Continue
When I get back into town, we're going to a baby shower and a
first birthday party for my niece's son.
And there's something about that that makes this whole thing
feel even more real.
There are babies being born into our family now.
There are little people growing up who will know me as the
older generation.
They won't remember the world exactly as I remember it.
They won't understand what it was like when certain songs were
new.
They won't know what it felt like to carry a CD around in the
car.
They'll grow up with their own technology, their own music,
their own slang, their own memories.
And I'll be standing somewhere nearby watching it happen.
That's the strange thing about getting older.
You don't just get older yourself.
You get to watch time move through other people.
You see babies take their first steps.
You watch children discover their personalities.
You watch teenagers become young adults.
You watch people fall in love, build careers, become parents,
make mistakes, start over, and figure out who they are.
And if you're fortunate enough to live long enough, you
realize something:
Life isn't just about what happens to you.
It's also about witnessing what happens after you.
✨ What If
Getting Older Isn't About Losing Youth?
We spend so much time talking about getting older as though it
is primarily about loss.
We talk about the things our bodies don't do the same way
anymore.
The energy we don't have.
The trends we don't understand.
The technology that changes faster than we can keep up with.
The people we miss.
The seasons that are gone.
And yes, some of that can hurt.
But what if there's another side to aging that we don't talk
about enough?
Perspective.
I once heard someone say I traded my youth for Wisdom and honestly
I like the sound of that.
When you're younger, you're often focused on becoming.
Who am I?
What am I going to do?
Where am I going?
Who will I love?
What will my life look like?
And then, somewhere along the way, the questions begin to
change.
You start asking:
What have I learned?
What actually matters?
Who do I want to be for the people I love?
What do I want to leave behind?
What wisdom can I pass forward?
What memories do I want the next generation to have with me?
Those are not lesser questions.
They're deeper ones.
🌊 There
Are Things Youth Can't Teach You
There is something beautiful about being young.
The energy.
The possibility.
The feeling that there is so much life ahead.
The excitement of discovering who you are.
I wouldn't want to take that away from anyone.
But there are also things you simply cannot know until you've
lived through them.
You can't know what resilience feels like until life asks you
to be resilient.
You can't understand the depth of certain kinds of love until
you've experienced them.
You can't appreciate peace the same way until you've lived
through chaos.
You can't understand how quickly time moves until you look
around and realize the babies you once held are now adults.
And you can't fully understand yourself until you've had
enough life experience to look backward and recognize the person you used to
be.
That's why I don't think the goal should be to go backward.
I don't need to be twenty again.
I don't need to relive every season.
I don't need to become the woman I was.
I want to understand her.
I want to appreciate her.
I want to remember what she dreamed about.
And then I want to bring the wisdom she didn't have yet into
the life I have now.
🌸 The Gift
of Remembering
Maybe that's what nostalgia is really giving us.
A little visit.
Not an invitation to move backward.
Just a reminder.
A reminder of where we've been.
Sometimes an old song can do that better than almost anything.
You hear the first few notes and suddenly you're somewhere
else.
You're driving down an old road.
You're sitting in a room you haven't seen in years.
You're thinking about someone who used to be part of your
everyday life.
You're remembering who you were before you knew what you know
now.
And for a few minutes, you can visit that version of yourself.
You can smile at her.
You can forgive her.
You can recognize how hard she was trying.
And maybe you can tell her:
"You made it farther than you thought you
would."
That matters.
Because we spend so much time looking ahead that we sometimes
forget to honor the road behind us.
🙏 What If
God Uses Every Season?
I believe God is present in every season of our lives.
Not just the exciting ones.
Not just the seasons where everything makes sense.
The awkward seasons.
The uncertain seasons.
The parenting seasons.
The caregiving seasons.
The seasons where you're rebuilding.
The seasons where you're wondering what comes next.
And yes, the seasons where you realize you're now watching
younger generations live through experiences you once had yourself.
What if none of it was wasted?
What if the younger version of you was learning things the
older version of you would eventually need?
What if the difficult seasons developed compassion?
What if the mistakes developed wisdom?
What if the relationships taught you discernment?
What if the losses taught you how precious life really is?
And what if this current season isn't about trying to recover
the past?
What if it's about becoming fully present for what God is
placing in front of you now?
Maybe your assignment changes as you grow.
Maybe your role changes.
Maybe your influence becomes quieter.
But quieter doesn't mean smaller.
Sometimes wisdom doesn't need a microphone.
Sometimes it simply needs to be present.
🚶🏽♀️ What Can We Do With the
Years We've Been Given?
We can't go back.
And honestly, I'm not sure we should want to.
But we can choose what we do with today.
We can laugh with our families.
We can celebrate babies.
We can show up for birthdays.
We can encourage young people who are trying to figure
themselves out.
We can share what we've learned without pretending we know
everything.
We can listen.
We can tell stories.
We can create memories.
We can still try new things.
We can still dream.
We can still have adventures.
And yes, we can still embarrass our children by giving
unsolicited romantic advice while they're trying to say hello to pretty girls
at the pool.
Apparently, that's part of my ministry now. 😂
But seriously, there is still so much life to live.
Getting older doesn't mean your story is winding down.
It means you have accumulated chapters.
And those chapters can become something meaningful for someone
else.
Maybe the thing you learned through your hardest season will
help someone younger navigate theirs.
Maybe the way you love your family will become part of the
memories your children carry forever.
Maybe simply being the person who shows up will matter more
than you ever realize.
❤️ A Quiet
Moment With God
Before you move on with your day, take a moment and think
about your own journey.
Not to judge it.
Not to wish you could change every decision.
Just to see it.
Ask yourself:
What part of my younger self do I still carry with
me today?
What has getting older taught me that I couldn't
have learned when I was younger?
Who in the next generation am I being called to
encourage, guide, or simply love?
What memories do I want the people I love to have
of me?
And perhaps most importantly:
What is God inviting me to experience in this
season instead of constantly looking back at the seasons that have passed?
Take those questions into prayer.
You don't need to answer all of them tonight.
Sometimes reflection is simply making room for God to speak.
🙏
Affirmations
- I
honor who I was while embracing who I am becoming.
- Every
season of my life has something valuable to teach me.
- I am
not behind; I am living the chapter God has given me today.
- I
can celebrate younger generations without diminishing my own journey.
- There
is still beautiful life, purpose, and possibility ahead of me. 🤍
📖 Bible
Verse
"The glory of young men is their strength:
and the beauty of old men is the gray head."
— Proverbs 20:29, KJV
I love the balance in this verse.
It doesn't tell us that one generation is better than another.
It recognizes that different seasons carry different kinds of
beauty.
Youth has its strength.
Age has its wisdom.
And both have value.
We don't have to compete with the generation coming behind us.
We don't have to prove that we're still young.
And we don't have to apologize for getting older.
There is beauty in having lived.
There is beauty in having learned.
There is beauty in having stories.
There is beauty in being able to look at someone younger and
say, "I remember being where you are."
The practical lesson for me is simple:
Don't spend so much energy wishing for another
season that you miss the beauty of the one you're currently living.
If you're young, enjoy the strength and possibility of your
season.
If you're older, embrace the wisdom and perspective you've
earned.
And wherever you are, use what God has given you to love
somebody else well.
🎵 Song of
the Day
"Back in the Day" by Ahmad Lewis
There was something almost perfect about this song finding its
way into today's thoughts.
"Back in the Day" carries that feeling of looking
backward and remembering a different time.
Not necessarily because everything was perfect back then.
But because certain moments become precious simply because
they're ours.
The song made me think about my youth.
About memories.
About the people we were before life added all the layers.
And today, watching my son notice those young women at the
pool somehow brought all of that together.
I found myself thinking about what it must be like to be that
age.
To have so much ahead of you.
To not yet know everything life will ask of you.
And then I thought about the younger version of myself.
She had no idea what was coming either.
And maybe that's okay.
Maybe none of us are supposed to know.
We're just supposed to live the season we're in.
So, if this song brings back memories for you, let it.
Take the trip down memory lane.
Smile at some of it.
Maybe laugh at some of it.
Maybe shed a tear over some of it.
But when the song ends, come back to today.
Because this version of your life deserves to be lived, too.
🌼 Final
Thoughts
Tonight, I'm grateful for a beach day.
I'm grateful for good food.
I'm grateful for football and a nap.
I'm grateful for my son's growing ability to communicate and
connect with the world around him.
And I'm grateful for the funny little moments that make family
life what it is.
Because one day, this will be our "back in the
day."
These ordinary moments we're living right now will become
somebody's memories.
The beach days.
The pool.
The meals.
The jokes.
The birthdays.
The baby showers.
The conversations.
The people who were here.
The people who aren't anymore.
The children who grew up.
The parents who got older.
The songs we played in the car.
The stories we told.
All of it becomes part of the tapestry.
So maybe getting older isn't about watching life pass us by.
Maybe it's about realizing just how precious it is while we're
still standing in the middle of it.
There is nothing wrong with remembering who you were.
There is nothing wrong with missing certain seasons.
But don't let nostalgia convince you that your best days are
behind you.
You are still here.
There are still memories waiting to be made.
There are still people who need your love.
There are still lessons to learn.
There are still places to go.
There are still prayers to pray.
And there is still a God who is walking with you through every
chapter.
So, remember the past.
Honor the journey.
Laugh at the memories.
Bless the younger generations coming behind you.
And then turn your face toward today.
Because one day, you'll look back at this moment too.
And I hope when you do, you can smile and say:
"That was a beautiful time in my life."
With love and gratitude,
Angel 🤍
AMC Rise and Thrive
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#GenerationalWisdom
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