A couple of Sunday’s ago I visited a local Laundromat to wash a quilt I had just finished.

It was a project I had been working on for nearly three years, which was destined to have a new home with my mother.

I love quilting. It’s a tradition deeply rooted in the past that can have immeasurable effects on the future, for generations, when people admire its beauty and enjoy its warmth.

While at the Laundromat, I passed the time by exchanging instant messages with my friend Amanda. We chatted mostly about feeling under the weather and the unpleasant midlife change we’re approaching. We started talking about a guest spot on her blog – musings from another Laundromat. During the conversation I made this comment…

Then I got to thinking, “do I really?” And that led to “do I spend too much time in the past?” When I think of the most interesting parts of my life, they almost always involve my 20’s. I toured North America performing at air shows in order to show citizens the capabilities of the Air Force’s F-16. I served in a war (which is associated with a long list of “interesting” moments).
Then I saw this post….

I mulled it over for days.

While I drove 14 hours to deliver my quilt I mulled it over some more. While I drove 14 hours home I mulled it to death. I came to the conclusion that I should really ignore the past, make some life changes, and have an interesting future.

When I got home a funny thing happened. You see, I have a Facebook page dedicated to the squadron I served in during Desert Shield/Storm.

For years it’s had about 30 members and doesn’t get much activity. A friend suggested that I expand it to include all our bases squadrons that served (we were all commingled during the war).

I did and something amazing happened. Membership doubled within hours.

Old friends were reminiscing and sharing stories, some that I had never heard before. I was flooded with THE PAST!

For days I reunited with people, heard about their new lives, and shared mine. It was great!

So great that I’ve decided I shouldn’t ignore the past at all. I should embrace it. I can’t be the only person who think their 20’s were the greatest years, right?

However, I do need to make some changes so I that I’ll have some good stories from this decade.

I’ve joined a gym. I’m shedding some pounds. My goal is to take a 17 mile hike to the top of mountain this summer. Sounds like a good story. Another piece of my “life quilt.”

And what is life? A crazy quilt;
Sorrow and joy, and grace and guilt,
With here and there a square of blue
For some old happiness we knew;
And so the hand of time will take
The fragments of our lives and make,
Out of life’s remnants, as they fall,
A thing of beauty, after all.

-Douglas Malloch. From The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America