{to my 16-year-old self}

{post inspired by the book Dear Me: A Letter to My Sixteen-Year-Old-Self by Joseph Galliano}

dear 16-year-old me,

you are smack in the middle of your high-school-years, and yes, I know, these are not your favorite years.  please try to make the best of it by focusing on school and getting good grades.  believe me, each A will give you a feeling of success and self-worth that you can't get anywhere else.  don't wait until college to find this out.  stick it to mr. o in composition class and turn everything in "on time," so he has no excuse to take your A-quality writing to a C.

go to prom...even if it is with "just a friend." even if it sucks.  at least it will be a story to tell.

try out for every single play.  you love the stage, so just keep doing it.  even if you keep getting cast as forest animals or, in this case, as a dwarf.  someone has to be the goofy dwarf.

 please grow your hair out to it's natural, dark color...brunette looks best on you.  blonde is not your thing.  yikes. {ps: neither is long hair. double yikes.}

{"One of these things is not like the other..."}

I know you love your part time job...but don't work quite so much.  and save all your money...except what you spend on the trip to Europe.  that is worth it.

work on your friendships even more.  your love for solitude is good...but there are such benefits from female friendships.

{I still love these girls}

before choosing a college and major, evaluate what you love.  definitely live in St. Paul, though.  a part of your heart will always be there.

join the soccer team!  and the track team!  you are a strong runner.

speaking of strength...you are a strong woman, both in physical endurance and conviction.  remember it. don't let other females ever cut you down.  they will try your entire life.  maybe they are just mean.  maybe someone else said mean things to them.  maybe because of their own insecurity.  maybe because they may think that one body type is "better" than another.  it doesn't matter.  always stand up for yourself and other women, as you do now.  and keep working out.  you will need those strong arms when you are thirty.

don't cry about that breakup.  really, there is someone much better for you out there.  God is listening to all your prayers.  you will fall in love, and it will be every bit as romantic and beautiful and poetic and you imagine.

oh, and finally: don't waste time stressing about not being able to have babies someday.  you will.  after years of fun and adventures. with the right man.  at the right time.

love,
you...the older and wiser {and less blonde} version

:o)