I'm you! From the future! Isn't that great? You probably think this is REALLY cool, I certainly would. (Well, obviously) But you aren't even anxious or worried as to why on earth I'm here, I know the worry would certainly cross MY mind (but I've seen more sci-fi than you have, yet).
You probably have a million questions for me, I know I would. But I'm not going to tell you everything. You'll learn about why you can't cross into or edit a fixed point in time about ten years from now, from a nice Scottish man in a British accent (yes, we DO do that rather well for our age, everyone DOES say so, I know...it's going to come in handy later, I promise. You'll find out middle of your senior year).
But here are a few things I want to tell you:
1) We get to actually live in Sanpete County:
I know! I know, it DOES sound like a nice place to live and you ARE terribly interested to visit now you've done your county report on it (You're going to miss it when Mrs. Dance brings out the brown recorders, but who cares).
Well, you, or rather I, but I guess we, end up working for the local newspaper. Yes, just like Lois Lane. Surprisingly, that joke will get old. But it will never completely lose its flavor, especially since we share initials with her (just realized that at work today).
{Between getting mugged or captured, she was an EXCELLENT reporter}
{And, yes, that's why Phyllis Coates is still our favorite Lois; because that's how she rolled}
We live in an apartment with three other lovely girls who are some of the best roomies ever. We have lots of friends, eat locally raised Turkeys, have seen the Manti pageant, and can call ourselves a local. And that is a rather odd sentence.
And it's better than we could have ever imagined.
2) You really shouldn't care so much what people think.
You are entirely too young for it.
I wish I'd realized that when I was you. I'm so sorry.
Plus, it will only get worse and bite us in the butt come high school. That's what will really ruin our school-age chances with guys.
You will notice that the girls who get guys are the confident ones. And your few, gleaming times with guys before college will be because you are confident around them.
I am the last person anyone might expect to say this, but it truly doesn't matter what others think of you more than what you think of you.
3) It really doesn't matter when you don't win the spelling bee.
Yours is the last year it really gets done, you KNOW you can spell circles around the class, and you do stuff which is more important anyway, like trying to think of what people really want for birthdays or when they're sick--much more important than spelling, and you do both better than I do.
And, as you will realize when you watch your first episode of psych, that's not really (y)our scene anyway.
4) You will have to get braces again.
But I promise it's legitimately going to be ok. We enunciate better and our teeth are freaking gorgeous!
5) Don't cringe too much in few years when you look back.
Yes, I admit, already we have had some cringe-worthy moments. But everyone loves us as we are. All those wonderful people who write things like "don't ever change" in our yearbooks really mean it. Not just because they need us to laugh at (although heaven knows some of them do need it sorely), but because they genuinely enjoy the fact that we are opinionated, zany, and argumentative. We add needed color to the social scene. And they love us for it. That girl who reduces us to tears at Freedom Elementary (no, it is not that exciting a school as you think it will be) is just jealous (probably) and very wrong (definitely).
And someday all the old-fashioned things we love will come into fashion and Mom will have to buy it. So take some comfort in that.
6) Boys are jerks. Well not all of them, but even the jerks make us better.
The one who breaks up with us over an answering machine teaches us both the comforting value of Chinese food and the fallibility of the Backstreet Boys. And we learn that any boy that breaks up with us over our beliefs is simply not worth it.
The baseball fanatic teaches us how awfully fickle they can be, their overall stupidity, and how easy it is to run into someone you desperately wish to avoid. But he also teaches us that we can do better, and that hiding in the history classroom is no way to break up with someone.
The one from seminary teaches us just how wrong we can be about people sometimes and to not let a man break a friendship, especially before a dear friend moves. Not worth it.
Our first date teaches us how the whole dating thing works, and convinces us we will not be alone forever.
The one we pine after for a year teaches us that we have a thing for the edgy ones, it cannot be denied, but sometimes we are spared our heart's desire for a good reason.
The one we find after Europe (the third Europe) teaches us that some things really never end--even if they do go through a really unique metamorphosis. This boy is like metamorphic rock, think of it that way.
The first two in college teach us that you can't judge a book by its cover, and that goes both ways. I would warn you away from them, but it REALLY is something we need to learn.
The one after that teaches us what we deserve.
Beyond him I have no idea, and I've left some out so it's all new for you.
7) Let yourself chase your dreams.
We are too squeamish to be medical. Yes, Dad is so proud of Michelle for being a lawyer and thinks we'd be good at it.
But is that what we want?
You know how much we love making up stories (even though that one about the haunted portrait in the abandoned mansion on a craggy island needs serious work)? Keep it up.
Because in four years we are going to sit up in bed and fall completely in love with it when we realize we can really sit there and make up stories, like we always do for Mom, and be paid for it.
We are going to be amazing when we grow up. See you in ten years!
Love you, you/me.
