Who Was I Again?

I'm sure you've heard the adage, as we get older we just become more of ourselves. It's really true. I started out as pure me. (I am using the first person, because: a) I am, in fact, talking about me, and; b) it's much easier than saying we and us, and risk overgeneralizing, although I think we all have our own version of this.) So as a baby I had no thoughts of anyone else, just me. I really was able to see the world through my own eyes. That lasted until 3 or 4 or 5? And I think the next 30-35 years were spent with me figuring out where the "me" fits in with the world that is really very little me and mostly everyone else. But I think part of getting older (wiser?) is changing the perspective back, and giving more credence to what I see through my own eyes. Not ignoring everyone else, but not ignoring me either. It's all about balance, right?

I have learned (slowly and sometimes painfully) that my perceptions of how the world works can be warped. Mostly my perceptions of myself, and generally to my detriment. I have been told I can be very hard on myself, and am working to find a place for seeing the world through my own eyes. If that makes any sense.

A couple of things have me thinking about this. Facebook, oddly enough. The possibility and reality of connecting with people I used to know and who knew me "way back when", and who still have that image of the younger me, even as we interact as the people we are now. And the intersection of things I knew I used to like, didn't do for a very long time, and have found I still like. Roller skating, and giving parties are two perfect examples (I was quite the hostess in jr. high and high school -- the first boy/girl party for 6th grade graduation, the first drunk fest New Years Eve freshman year of college (18 WAS legal in NY at the time!)). And lastly loving things I never knew I would, like gardening, hiking, and being a parent. This is what "Life in the Rolling Lane" is about, not least because skating has been a huge wake-up for me in many ways, but because we do keep rolling along, sometimes veering widely off the path, but generally finding our way, and moving forward to wherever we are supposed to be rolling to.