I stole this from Missy who stole it from somebody else. I thought this could be very interesting and therapeutic at the same time.
However, I’m going to make one little change to this and say “Letter to Myself 20 Years Ago.” I made way more mistakes at 18 than I did at 20. What an idiot. (Shoot … already blew my pledge from yesterday’s post.)
Moving on …
The only picture I could find was one of when I was 22 and dating Beau. The pictures I previously had of when I was 18-20 have either been ripped to pieces or burned. Don’t ask. Those years were not good and better forgotten until, of course, I dredged them all up today just for this one post. I told you … therapeutic.
Me with my best roommate ever … Solomon.
No, I don’t know how to play the string bass … just pretending I do.
Dear 18-To-19-Year-Old Belle,
Please take these points to heart. You’re not going to believe most of this and you’re way too interested in unimportant things right now to even read this, but here goes.
1. You’re going to think that you can’t live without a certain high school boyfriend. You will cry. But, I promise you that you will get over it. Actually, you’ll be over it the first week of college when your eyes are opened to all the endless possibilities awaiting you, which by the way, don’t always turn out good for you.
2. There’s going to be a guy that offers you a drink called, “Goat’s Blood,” at your first college fraternity party. Don’t drink it. Vomiting, bruising, lack of memory, and missing your very first day of college classes will result.
3. Go to class. Don’t miss it for anything. Take this seriously, girl. Your future’s at stake. These so-called new friends of yours will not keep in touch with you through the years and when you finally leave this certain college, you’ll never hear from them again.
4. You will meet a guy. You will fall madly in love with him. He will hurt you deeply. The relationship will end and you will never see him again. The last time you speak to him you will have given your life to Jesus and he wants nothing to do with that. Stay away from any serious relationship right now because God has something way better in store for you (Beau wants me to make sure you know that that “way better” thing is him, which I assumed you would figure out).
5. In 20 years, you will not be able to go to the store with $10 and buy a week’s worth of groceries, but Ramen noodles will cost the same.
6. Go ahead and go to that Motley Crue concert. It will help you appreciate a lot of things in the future, like how God saved you out of such a mess.
7. Motley Crue and Bon Jovi will look mostly the same 20 years from now because of all the plastic surgery the band members have had. Yeah, that’s right … plastic surgery … everyone’s getting it now, like it’s just a routine dental check-up. Most of the celebrities you love will have it done and most, if not all, will look like they belong in a wax museum. Growing old gracefully no longer exists.
8. Don’t even bother trying to broaden your music preferences. Indigo Girls … not worth it … will fade into existence. The Cure will only have that one song. Depeche Mode … gone and you won’t remember even one of their songs.
9. Cherish your body. You will spend the rest of your life trying to get that body back.
10. Big permed hair will go out of style, but keep your mini-skirts, leggings, and big circular earrings.
11. Tom Cruise will turn out to be a weirdo and Markie Mark will turn out to be a great actor and have incredible success. Who knew?
12. You will try to get involved at one of the Christian college fellowships there on campus, but will not really make friends with anyone the first few times. Stick with it. It could change so many things for the good (however, you may not be where you are today if you had stayed involved there … nevermind).
13. Think twice about that Elementary Education degree. Maybe try Business or Marketing instead.
14. Don’t worry. You won’t work in retail your whole life, but you will miss the discounts.
15. Listen closely, Belle … some of the decisions you make today will affect you the rest of your life. Seriously. Big time. Choose carefully.
16. But most importantly, know that God has a plan for you, should you choose to accept it. And, believe it or not, part of that plan will be your parents making you move back home to go to school. You will hate being back home, but in the next year or so, your life will change drastically … for the better. And YOU WILL live happily ever after.
Yours truly,
Mama Belle
I would tell myself two things:
First I would forget what my father told me about investing and I would be very wealthy today. Sorry dad but playing it safe wasn’t great advice.
Second, I would listen to what my father said about marrying my first wife. Kids never listen to this one though.
Somehow I got the two mixed up. 🙂
I’m glad you lived happily ever after! Great hair. You still look just as good as when you were 18, 19, or 20…got mixed up on just exactly what age this was, sorry.
-FringeGirl
Great post. Love, love, love it. Even though you were looking back it is a great lesson on looking forward from today. Enjoy your block.
Vanessa
WOW!! That’s great advice! I am considerably older than you (57) and totally agree with all your points….could have written many of them myself. 🙂 Time really doesn’t change some things.
this is a fantastic idea. however, my brain hurts just thinking about all the things i would say to myself.
You sound pretty wise to me…live and learn, right?
Great post Mama Belle.
Neat. This is a fun idea that I may steal at some point. 🙂
Love this, MB!
Cheers to living happily ever after.
Too bad we really couldn’t know what to do at 20. My sister always says she wants to go back and I say, only if I know what I know now.
Good post.
This is so cool. I’m going to do this, even though I’m still in my 20s. 🙂
I loved reading this ….thank you! I am going to copy it a bit (sorta) and think of it as a letter to my now 20 year old daughter who I adore and who is busy making learning mistakes of her own (oh so painful when they don’t learn from your mistakes) you will see…… 2 girls……… its hard
loved it! and as far as #5 – even though you will one day be able to afford more than Ramen noodles, you will still have a strong affinity for them…
this was such a great idea and I love your post!!! I would maybe try it but honestly, I can remember my 20 year old self!!! 🙂
Great letter and one we all could write! LOL at the “cherish your body”. SO TRUE. Oh how I miss my basketball legs. *sigh*
I LOVED this one. You are brilliant…and hilarious…
I thought about writing a letter to my 18 year old self but dredging up those memories is more than I can handle. Plus, I'd get all morose. And yours was perfect. So…I won't even attempt it.
p.s. HELLO! The Cure has more than one song. The album they released last fall is brilliant. Also…I'm glad Dr. Falwell's in Heaven & won't hear me say this: but I still love the Indigo Girls. I do. I love their lesbian, left-wing selves, 'cause God tells me to. But I love their music (well, their older stuff) even more. Don't hate me.
This is an awesome post. I have made so many mistakes. I really need to do this too but I am no where ready to go there yet.
What an awesome post, mama belle! I tell people all the time that every action, good or bad, has a consequence, good or bad. I try very hard to live my life that way, but it is difficult at times…
i bet most all of us have those warnings about past loves and guys we thought were IT! oh brother. i got a good laugh at the top ramen and #9. so true and so funny.
best of all, isn’t it awesome to look back at how we saw God keeping us and helping us thru. so we can look ahead and know He’ll be there too!?☺