My letter to me...

As so challenged by Mrs. Wresh, I created my own 'letter to me'. If you don't know anything about this you should read my previous post. Here is a brief synopsis... in a Brad Paisley song entitled, 'Letter to Me' he talks about writing a letter to himself at the age of 17 from the present.

Mrs. Wresh challenged me to do this on her blog. Being in the retrospective mood that I am in as of late, I took on this challenge and here is the final project.

The letter reads as follows:

Dear Me,

You are probably really excited right now just to get a letter, but you won't believe this. I am writing you this letter from the future. I am you, and I am 34.

I want to tell you everything that happened in our life between where you are and where I am, but I can't do that. That would be taking away everything you have yet to experience, all the great surprises, hardships, and that has to include all the lessons I learned as well.

So instead of ruining it for you, I will just give you some advice.

First, keep your eye on the prize. That is to say, sometimes you can be sort of lazy. Don't be! You only have so many years on this Earth. Use them to see the sights, have experiences, put yourself out there and, for goodness sakes, just be yourself. If I remember correctly, it took you a long time to come out of your shell and when you did, you began to truly love life. Do it a little earlier! You will be well-liked as long as you keep being yourself and don't conform to fit in.

Secondly, school is important. I know you don't realize it now, but you are really smart. You won't believe how smart, and again, I don't want to ruin it for you, but you will surprise your high school teachers one day.

Next, forgive! It takes you a long time to forgive some people in your life that you feel wronged you. Don't make it all about you, they didn't wrong you, they wronged themselves and you were just along for the ride. They have spent a lot of time trying to make it up to you, let them off the hook.

You allow too many people free rent in your head! What everyone thinks about you isn't really important, but what you think about you is. Make yourself a priority, and stop trying to please everyone else. You don't need to be a doormat, people will be your friend because you are a nice person, not because you cater to their needs. This goes for boys too.

Oh yea, about boys. You will have some wonderful experiences and some bad experiences, and I got news for you, they overlap. They are all worth it. Don't spend time wishing your good times away to focus on the bad times, or regret any of it. You have to take the good and take the bad. It is all a part of growing up, and your heart will get broken. Broken hearts teach girls to seek out the boys that can give them what they really need. You will do that; trust me on this. There is a song by Garth Brooks called, "Unanswered Prayers", and you will understand this all too well someday.

Please, please, spend more time with your Grandma. You will wish you had more time with her later in life, so spend as much time as you can with her now.

I hope this letter doesn't upset you, because that isn't the intent. Ultimately, you will turn out to a wife and mommy, which is all you ever really wanted to be anyway. You will be happy, smart, funny, silly, dramatic and most importantly, you will love and be loved. That is the most important thing in life.
Love, You