Write a Letter To You

If I could write a letter to me
And send it back in time to myself at 17...

I'm totally swiping this idea from the afternoon jocks at XM161... but I like it. If you could write a letter to yourself at 17... what would you say? And don't worry... none of us can say it as well as Brad Paisley did.

I thought this would be easy. 17 sucked for me. Boy, if I had the chance to see some of those people again...grumble, grumble, grumble

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I wouldn't change much, because it's all the crap you go through that gets you to where you are today. And I kind of like it here.

However... there are some things I would tell my 17 year old self, even though I probably wouldn't listen.

Dear Me at 17,

Breaking News -- People suck. You're seeing that now. But guess what? Their loss. Don't waste your time trying to figure out people like Tracy G. and Cathy B. They will soon be footnotes in your autobiography. Actually, if you ever write your autobiography, you wouldn't give them the satisfaction of mentioning them.

(And in case you're wondering, you're not going to get famous enough that you're ever going to write your autobiography.) Although... this thing called the internet is going to come along... and your life is going to be an open book, in an odd sort of way that doesn't involve pages.

By the way. As soon as you hear the term "Google" invest in it.

Back to Cathy for a minute. Boyfriend-stealing-former-best-friend-little-wench. She and Mat don't even make it to graduation. tee hee hee

Unfortunately, she's not going to be the last girlfriend you lose. Did I mention people suck? They hurt other people. 20 years later, that hasn't changed. Maybe if you can learn that lesson now, it will hurt less later. Maybe.

If I'd have written this letter to you at 14, I'd have told you that your Senior Year was going to wind up this rotten, you could have worked at graduating early. Sorry about that.

I'd have also told you to take Spanish instead of French. Do that in college, ok? You aren't ever going to have the need to parlez francais. Ever.

When you get to college, go ahead and shorten your name to Joy. Easier to lose 2 letters now than 4 letters later.

If I told you that you'd have a much better time staying home than going to your Senior Prom, you probably wouldn't believe me, would you? But at least you get an awesome dress -- and you will wear it again. But when you're going in to shop for the fabric for it... remember the speed limit is 45 on Fort Street.

And just tuck this away -- 20 years from now, you won't be able to remember Todd's last name. In fact, you'll wonder what on earth you were doing with a blonde.

You'll also wonder why you stressed so much over things that just didn't matter in the long run. Those hot shot kids that think they're the biggest thing to happen to that small town? They're going to spend their life there. You're going to go out and see the world. And leave them behind.

It would actually be a good idea to start keeping a scrapbook. Your kids will get a kick out of 80's fashions someday. Wait until you look back on that hair of yours.

You might also want to stop making fun of country music. It's about to be cooler than you could ever imagine. Pay attention to this kid named Garth you're about to hear on the radio. He's going to change your life.

As much as you think you can't wait to get the hell out of there and never see those people again... there will come a day that you won't know what ever happened to Mike and Joe and Mark, and you'll wish you did.

Now. Go find Mike Hauk. Shouldn't be hard, his locker has always been right next to yours. He's a good guy, you should tell him that. In fact, just hug him. You won't get the chance later.

Hang in there... things get better at 18. They're awesome at 22, and you're gonna love the 30's.

Love,
The Happily Married,
Mother of 3,
36 year old version of You

Your turn. It's cheaper than therapy. ;-)