Accepting “The Nester” Challenge (Dear Me) September 13, 2012
Whenever I get the chance, I visit The Nesting Place
This week, she wrote a beautiful post, entitled Dear Me.
She invited us to write our own letters of advice, to our 16 year old selves, in honor of her sister’s new book debut.
Her sister writes the blog, Chatting at the Sky, and I see writing is a skill sharing by both of these young ladies!
While I don’t have the great pictures to include in this post, as they have, I hope the words are sufficient.
1. NEVER let your mother give you a perm. No, you’ll never have pretty curls like “what’s her name”, but trust me, your mother doesn’t know how to give perms. Stand back! Just say”NO!”
2. When all is said and done, you won’t get a prize for having the darkest tan, so stop damaging your skin! Do you know what you’ll look like, if you keep this up? Baby oil? Are you kidding me? Why not just jump into a frying pan, over a hot stove, while you’re at it!
3. Don’t take all this “guy stuff” so darn seriously! You may be a dynamo in business when you get older, but frankly, you’ve got no business worrying about men, until you realize how wonderful you really are. Your parents mean well, but they believe in “negative reinforcement” instead of “positive reinforcement”, so that’s going to take some time to get over. OK, go ahead and marry what’s-his-name, at 32, before all your eggs dry up! You’ll get two awesome kids out of the deal. Trust me, you’ll meet your “true love” at 43, so for now, relax! Get a hobby! Have you heard about blogging? The Internet? No? It’s gonna be big!
4. Speaking of “positive reinforcement”, if you knew how much God loves you, with your flaws, pimples and thin hair, you’d feel better about your current state of affairs. He adores you, like all of His other children. Smile, being sixteen will soon pass. If you loved yourself one-tenth as much as God loves you, you’d be walking on air. Say your prayers. Talk to Him. He is your friend and wants the best for you…He will protect you and give you everything you need, in good time.
5. You’ll be going to college soon. Forget about business school and major in interior design. You know you love it! You’ve been re-arranging your bedroom furniture since you were ten. No, everyone else does not do this! It’s going to be your passion, so learn all about it.
With love and 20-20 hindsight vision,
Barbara
Great advice, Barbara! And #2…oh my gosh! Can you believe we did that??? Hope you are having a great week!!…hugs…Debbie
Hi Debbie,
Good to hear from you! Thanks for stopping by!
Barbara
*Lovely* I so wish I could have had a listening ear when my daughter was 16… it is such a hard age because we sweat all of the small stuff. Love your blog! <3
Hi Sharon!,
Thanks for saying “hi”! We all wish we could have been better parents to our teenagers! It requires super-human skills, that most of us aren’t in possession of. We did the best we could, with the tools we had.
Hugs,
Barbara
Don’t we all wish we had hindsight! I remember #2 too! And, I was always rearranging my bedroom furniture…good advice, Barbara! 😉
Great words of wisdom…I’m having flash backs…
I love #4 and have been “preaching” that advice to my 15 year old granddaughter a lot. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Katherine,
Good to hear from you! I’m sure your granddaughter appreciates your loving support!
Keep it up!,
Barbara
Awesome post!!! Boy I wish i knew #5 (and 31 for that matter) when I was younger!!
Stacy
Meant “#1” — it was ugly
Such a cute letter. My daughter is in college, and she wrote a letter to her college self in seventh grade. She recently got the letter, and it was so, so sweet….what she wanted to accomplish, etc. I treasure it so much!
This is such a nice post…great advice too. I do wish I could go back and tell myself a think or two!
Don’t we all, Ann!?
Beautiful, just a beautiful post, Barbara! It really warns my heart when people share such meaningful thoughts about their lives with the world. It was really touching to read and as usually I was a blubbering fool. Thank you!