As some of you do, I find it fun to post 'Throw Back Thursday' photos on facebook as we walk down memory lane, mostly with a good chuckle at how we used to look in previous years and while wearing "What-was-I- thinking?" clothes. Last week I posted this 1976 'vintage' prom pic of me and then-boyfriend J.T. - God rest his soul.

Wow, was that really me? So much tinier; 40 pounds thinner. I couldn't get over my 17-year-old self! Where were the Double-Ds? Were my arms ever that Twiggy-like? Why didn't we get haircuts??

In 1976, I didn't realize there would be such drastic changes to a woman's body later in life. Who knew? And if someone had told me, would I have listened or cared? It isn't until 39 years later as I view this comparison with 55-year-old eyes, that I hope in high school I appreciated my young body. Probably not.

I advise my 18-year-old daughter with her beautiful smooth body and slim waistline ... "love your body now, appreciate it now, because later it will change ..."

On an even deeper, much more significant notion, J.T. was madly in love with me, wrote me lovely poems, sent me flowers, wined and dined me, drove me around, and just wanted to be my boyfriend longer than I allowed it. (He even put up with my constant Nacho Cheese Dorito breath.) I took all of him for granted. I didn't appreciate John or his great love. Nineteen years later he died ... very young. (I still have his beautiful poetry - and the guilt associated with not loving him on the level that he had loved me. I hope I will have the opportunity to apologize to him in heaven.)