Younger Self

I can see her there,
looking confident,
cocky even,
but I know her well.

She is terrified,
has no idea
what she is supposed to do
with this “life”
that is now, suddenly,
hers.

I wonder what advice I would give,
now that I know
how things turned out,
at least thus far.

I can’t tell her
that everything will be ok.
Some things were definitely
not.

I want to tell her
to follow her heart,
but I know she has heard that before
and has no practical idea
what it means.

I guess I would just let her know
that I never did figure out
the “life” question.
It was just too big,
too open-ended.

I learned instead
to just do the next right thing
in front of me
over and over and over,
making corrections,
big or small,
where necessary.

The best parts
have been the blessings anyway-
given,
not planned or earned,
just surprising gifts
along the way.

By Maria Brady-Smith