Is High School REALLY The Best Days Of Our Life?

In May 2015, it will be 30 years since I graduated from high school.  As I think back on my high school years and compare them to the one's my children are living through currently, I am pretty sure, high school (for me) was NOT the best days of my life, and that also seems to be true on many days, for my teenagers.  Don't get me wrong, high school had some great times and some wonderful memories.  But it also had a whole lot of crap.  Stuff that I am more than happy to not repeat, even though some might think it made for a good life lesson.  Some of those lessons, I'm not sure I needed.  The peer pressures around me when I was between 14-18 years old, such as kids doing drugs, smoking pot, getting drunk on weekends, and having casual sex with whoever will join them, was fairly noticeable.  Fortunately, I never gave in to any of those pressures and took part in those activities.  Sadly, the peer pressures from decades ago, are still the same for kids all these years later -  but starting much younger.

It also seems the intensity and negative impact from these peer pressures has increased, probably in large part due to the internet, social media websites and apps, smart phones and all the other technology we didn't have back in the 80's. (Thank God!)

Several months ago, my high school children (son #1 and daughter) and I were having a discussion and they expressed to me that they felt like high school was just "ok" for them and really wanted to just get through it.  They were having some good times, but for all the build up of going to high school, once they got there, it just felt like another step in life.  It felt somewhat anti-climatic.  College and the years after that, was what they were looking more forward to.

After their sharing, I found myself giving them a very "mom like" speech about kids that are stars in high school, many of them never rise up any further, and high school will literally be the best days of their life.  And many of these people will continue to act, and in some cases look like they are still in high school, when they are adults.  So sad!

For myself, I also really looked forward to college and what came afterwards, when I was in high school.  I wanted to find my "voice" and "speak it" - and that can be difficult when you are in high school.  I was never a "follow the leader" kind of person, but I also didn't want to be a "leader" (even though I liked to lead).  Many of the "leaders" at my school were the "queen bee" type, which I was not.  So I preferred to be part of a circle of friends that felt like we were all on the same level.  No exclusive leaders or exclusive followers.  We just took turns "leading" or "following" - depending on the activity and people involved.  That part of high school was fun. 

Recently, as I was cleaning out my storage area in my basement, I found a bin with items from my youth.  Some of the more interesting items were letters and cards from when I was in high school.  Some of the cards were funny and some of the letters were the length of a phone conversation (our version of texting).  Reading about the past dating relationships me and my friends were involved in or guys we liked, was the most entertaining and brought back some wonderful memories of high school.  It then made me wonder, based on their letters, what had my letters said to them?  I would love to put all the letters together and read the WHOLE story.  I'm sure there would be a LOT of laughing!

As I've gotten older, I do tend to think less and less about the crappy stuff from high school, and cling more to the good stuff.  Perhaps, it's because I've had so many more good things happen in my adult life, it has slowly covered some of the not-so-great stuff from my youth.  If I had a choice to have a "do over" for high school, I'm not sure I'd take it.  Definitely not, if it was in today's world.  I really believe it is much more difficult to be a teenager now, then 30 years ago.  Stories about teen depression and suicide, seem to be in the news more and more these days.  That's so sad and scary!  

I pray for my children and all teenagers, that even though some days in high school may not always be the "best days" of their life, they will have more good days then bad, and create a few wonderful memories along the way, which they can carry into their adult life.  And whatever negative experiences they do encounter, can eventually become positive life lessons that will help them as adults.  Trust.  Have Faith.  Your "best days", are still to come!

Our Love Story Continues...

Sometimes God speaks to us and blesses us through the most unexpected ways.

It is two years today, since my beloved and I first met.  Our relationship has continued to be nothing less of an example of God's answering of prayers.  Our love story is one that can only be explained by the fact that God had to be at the center of it.  The likelihood of us meeting, was highly unlikely - he was living in New York and I was living in Kansas.  I was divorced and had four children.  He had never been married and had no children.  But thanks to God, He brought us together through the magic of online dating - CatholicMatch.com - and our interesting profiles, and a few cute pictures.

Since the start of our relationship, one of the many areas we continue to enjoy sharing with each other is our love of music.  This love we share came full circle for me during the last 6 months.

In June 2014, I received a group email invitation to consider applying to be a part of a mission team for a retreat called "Christ Renews His Parish", which would take place in October 2014.  

I had attended one of these retreats back in September 2005 at my parish and after that amazing experience had hoped to be part of a mission team, that would then take this retreat to other parishes in our area.  Unfortunately, because of life circumstances, it took me nine years before that dream would become a reality for me.  In the group email it stated that we needed to "reflect upon our renewal experience and ask how Christ is calling us to serve Him.  And in a couple of sentences, describe why we feel called to the mission team at this time. "  

I was so excited to read this email.  I had wanted to be a member of a mission team for years, but for some reason, it hadn't felt like it was the right time.  Now, it felt like it WAS.  I absolutely wanted to be considered.  I sent my reply almost immediately.  It said:

I attended CRHP back in September 2005 at Ascension - I was part of team 4.
Since that time there have been many changes in my life:
the birth of my 4th child, the ending of my marriage which ultimately ended in divorce January 2013, moving to and creating a new home for me and my 4 children, and I have been going through the annulment process, which should be fully complete by the end of this month.
During these moments and many other significant ones during the last 7+ years, I have grown tremendously in my faith and my relationship with our Lord.  Because of my amazing experience with CRHP years ago, I believe I was able to have the strength and fortitude during some very difficult times, while not losing my faith in Him or beliefs in our Church.  I have an amazing spiritual foundation to rely on, thanks to CRHP, and I would love to give back to those wanting to also have a deeper relationship with our Lord.   I have wanted to be part of a mission team for the last few years, but due to my life circumstances during those times, I was unable to commit.
Thanks to our Lord, I feel that I am in a wonderful place now and I have the time and commitment needed to be part of a mission team.
I pray you will consider allowing me to be part of this mission team.

About two weeks later I received the email I was praying for:

Lisa, 
I'd like to invite you to be a member of the St. Michael's CRHP Women's Mission team.  I am so thankful that you have answered God's call to serve on this team to the women of St. Michael's parish.

I was SO happy and filled with joy!  After a few weeks of our mission team meetings, we spent an evening discerning what each of our ministries would be for the retreat weekend.   Prior to this particular evening, we needed to spend time alone in prayer, praying for God to speak to us, regarding what HE wanted us to do during the weekend.

The week before our Evening of Discernment, I had the following experience which I shared with my fellow team members:

Hello Fellow Sisters In Christ-

Being part of this mission team, has been an amazing gift for me from the Lord.  I feel so blessed to be in the presence of all of you and I am so spiritually moved by all of your faith sharing stories!  

This morning I had an experience I wanted to share with all of you.

With Discernment being next Monday night, I felt like I needed to spend some quiet time in front of our Lord, so off to the Adoration Chapel I went.

While I was driving, and my mind was deep in thought, the song “Where You Lead Me” by Mercy Me started to play.  The words were so powerful for me (I started to cry), because I was heading to the Chapel to pray to the Lord - for Him to lead me regarding my discernment.  And then I started to think of all of you.  And began to pray for each one of you, that the Lord lead each and every one of you, the same way He is leading me.  “Where you lead me, I will follow.  Where you lead me, I give my life away."

Here is the video of the song, if you are not familiar with it.  I hope you enjoy it, as much as I do.

"Where You Lead Me" by MercyMe

Have a wonderful and blessed day!  

Love,

YSIC

Lisa  :-)

Little did I know that my email to my fellow team members was an indication of what God was calling me to be.  At first, I seemed to miss this "memo", but my sisters in Christ knew what HE wanted me to do, before it became apparent to me!  I was meant to be the Liturgist.  My love for music seemed to be shining through to the ladies in my group, and as the Liturgist, I would now be able to continue to share it with others.  Music has always inspired me throughout my life.  Sometimes it feels like a form of prayer.  Other times it can tell a story or provide a message that I need to hear.   

Music has also been a huge part of my relationship with my beloved since the beginning of our relationship.  We had only known each other a little over a week, when he emailed me the first song of what would lead us to exchanging over 150 songs with each other since then.  (Our first song was "While I'm Waiting" by John Waller from the movie FIREPROOF.)
"While I'm Waiting" by John Waller

From the sharing of songs that remind us of each other, I have been creating CD's every few months for us to enjoy.  There have been love songs, spiritually uplifting songs and a variety of genres.  No matter what the song, the lyrics have had meaning to us and our relationship.   Only God knew, that from all the songs my beloved and I had shared, for months beforehand, it would lead to my calling to be the Liturgist for "Christ Renews His Parish".  Our songs inspired me to provide beautiful songs at our meetings, and create meaningful play lists for our retreat weekend and introduce the ladies to songs they may not have otherwise ever heard.  What a blessing which I am truly thankful for.  Being able to share the gift of music.  As I am equally thankful to God for my beloved and the music we have shared for the last two years.  I LOVEST HIM and look forward to sharing LOTS more songs with him!