When You Look Back On Your Life One Day

Girl With Camera
Jordan Bauer

One day when you are looking back on your life, I hope you can raise your cup to all of the moments that life took your breath away. I hope you look back with gratitude and fulfillment, knowing that you filled every second of your life with crazy adventures and magnificent dreams. I hope you look back and see that your cup always overflowed with love, and that your heart always stayed soft.

I hope you can say that you made the most of this life. I hope you can say that you lived.

I hope you remember the crackling bonfires and gooey s’mores melting deliciously in your mouth. I hope you remember the familiar family dinners, where you told your family about all of the humiliating events that accompanied your first day of school. I hope you remember the killer hangovers and the crappy first dates. I hope you remember your awkward first kiss and the tragic story of your first crush. I hope you look back on a life in which you ditched the diet and ate the midnight (chocolate glazed) donuts.

I hope you remember the times you stayed out all night, just for the sake of being alive.

I hope that you remember sitting in your mom’s lap when you were little, safe and loved, feeling as though all was right in the world. I hope you remember the circle of best friends that you grew up with. I hope you laugh at all of the meaningless drama between you and your friends, and how ridiculously meaningful it was at the time.

I hope you remember the way you grew and transformed from each heartbreak, even after you thought that your whole world was falling apart.

I hope you remember the irreplaceably special bond you never broke between you and your sister.

I hope you remember splashing and swimming in the sparkling blue water on family beach trips, too young to worry about how your body looked. I hope you remember the time that, for the very first time, you felt confident speaking to a room full of people. I hope you remember all of the times you forgot your locker combination, and the days in which you felt so nervous changing for gym in the school locker room.

I hope you remember all of the moments that led up to you learning to love yourself.

I hope you remember the moments of becoming, the moments in which you knew who you were and who you would one day be. I hope that you look back and feel proud of who you loved and how much you loved. I hope you remember the moments in which you fell in love with your life.

I hope that when you look back on all of those beautiful years filled with ups and downs, you feel certain that you had a good life.

I hope that the good times always made up for the hard times, and that the love in your life always overpowered the pain.

And above all, I hope that someday, sometime, you look back on your beautiful life with proud eyes and a warm heart, embracing all that you have done with your little tiny version of infinity. Thought Catalog Logo Mark


About the author

Colleen George

“there can be magic in the messes” @apeaceofwerk

More From Thought Catalog