Letter to me

If I could write a letter to me

and take it back in time to myself at 17...

Roberto and I were talking the other day when he brought up in passing the fact that 2007 was five years ago.

I don't recall what he was talking about, but I can tell you that my attention froze right there.

I can do basic math, so this should have been of no surprise. And yet I had never stopped to count. Has it really been five years since I was 17? Five years.

Years since my old bestie and I spent our evenings in abandoned parking lots working on our skateboard skills (well, utter lack of) just to have something to talk about with the boy from school.

Yeah I know you really liked her, and it just don't seem fair

But all I can say is pain like that is fast, and it's rare...

Years since weekends of speeding through the streets of our neighborhoods blasting The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Years since a curly haired boy with a natural tan asked if he could sit with us at lunch. Years since I wondered if he would ever ask me to prom.

Um.. yeah.

Each and every time you have a fight

Just assume you're wrong, and dad is right...

Years since I got my first car, an old Nissan Sentra which smelled of cigars but made me feel bad-a as I ran to Walmart to pick up last minute things for my mom that rainy Thanksgiving---because it was mine. Years since I navigated the corridors of my high school with my fellow classmates to the sound of Pomp and Circumstance in my rebelliously floral heels.

Oh, you got so much goin' for ya, goin' right

But I know at 17 it's hard to see past Friday night

Tonight's the bonfire rally, but you're staying home instead

Because if you fail algebra, your mom and dad will kill ya dead

But trust me, you'll squeak by and get a C

You're still around to write this letter to me

Years since we danced on the beach that night he asked me to marry him. Years since I got on a plane to Paris, absolutely certain I would die. Years since we moved only 6 hours north of our family----and yet a part of me felt we had taken on the world.
Years.

I wish you'd study spanish, wish you'd take a typing class

I wish you wouldn't worry, and let it be

Have a little faith, and you'll see...

Honing my skateboarding "skills"

I love listening to Brad Paisley's If I Could Write A Letter To Me. I can relate to pretty much every line (except that part about the playboy and the skoal can... honest). I feel I've done an ok job at keeping the mistakes in my life to a minimum----and still oh, if I could write a letter to me.

I might say that high school didn't matter. Grades weren't everything. Athletics teach you more about life than you'll ever learn in a classroom. No friends are better than bad ones. Life is short. Some things can wait. Don't give up Photo for more OJT. Family is more important. Be sweet to your parents, they want what's best and they know what they're talking about. Follow your gut. Don't worry. And believe it or not, despite the fun you're having now, these really aren't the best years of your life.

It makes me wonder, as I sit here, slowly freaking out as it becomes obvious that our next duty station will only take us farther from my scholarship and home, what wisdom I would impart to my 22-year-old self five quick years from now. Oh, if I could expedite that letter to me.

You've got so much up ahead

You'll make new friends

And you should see your kids and wife

Then I'd end by sayin, have no fear

These are nowhere near the best years of your life.

If I could write a letter to me...

March 2012