1975
She is still keen on being loved for who she is inside
Her gray – blue eyes can still cut through a room looking for true hearts
and she still feels poetry in music and loves a Rocky Mountain high…
I’ll raise a silver chalice to the girl I was in my youth
She is always with me never far from where I am
and she loves the life she is given walking strongly in the Truth…
Her thoughts still flow on paper and she still gazes at the stars
A few times we have both flown too close to the Sun
I am older now and wiser and that girl is never far…
Jill Autrey Dorman 
We were pretty much formed by that age, all of us. That is not to say we were formed spiritually, in the Romans 12 kind of way, but we were well developed psychologically. Oh sure, disappointment, especially relationally, would still form our neurological responses along with any trauma along the way. Our brains never stop learning. But who we essentially are, what can move us emotionally, what we tend to remember, etc. is intact by then.
Patsy shares your love of the beach. Walks on the beach, especially at the water’s edge, she calls “toe therapy”. I share your love of music, appreciating the songwriter’s turn of a phrase; those are the best sermons on the plight of humanity in my estimation. Jackson Browne is one of my favorites, and I empathize with his angst over what is unobtainable and unjust around us and within us. He does not know it, but his worries are answered in Jesus, and his promises made at the Sermon on the Mount.
I’m glad you are still endeavoring to know the girl in the photo. I think as our awareness of God and his perspective of us grows we also become more accurately aware of ourselves as we see ourselves through our heavenly Father’s eyes. As Thompson asks, “How does the Father tell your story differently than you tell it?”
Blessings upon you and yours as you connect to the yet unfulfilled dreams for you in your heavenly Father’s heart. And my you always find the words to express the wonder of the journey.
David I love Jackson Browne and I have always hoped that he would/will find Jesus in his journey. He is a
True wordsmith. Other poets I enjoy from the old days include Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and Carol King and a special influence on me was Laura Nyro. The psychologist head of Children’s Psychology at UTSW wrote a paper saying a a person’s character is completely present by 5 years of age. Of course it continues to develop but the core of right and wrong is strong and present.
In the late seventies and eighties when self help and “permission to be precious” all came on the scene people learned about the inner child etc…but without an identity in Christ it is just not the same!
Thank you for your great input as always!