Dear Amy

It’s OK to feel like you don’t fit in. Please don’t pluck your eyebrows so thin. They will never grow back. Learn how to drive mom’s stick shift. There will come a time when they won’t exist anymore. Crazy, right? Do not get rid of your white denim Guess jean jacket. In 2024 you’ll be wanting it back. (But thanks for keeping the blue denim Guess jean jacket.) Don’t worry about that boy. Or that other boy. I know, it was sad when Matt moved away. You’ll never know what happened to him. But remember that day when he put a dime in your penny loafers and jammed it so far in you couldn’t get it out? Well, when the shoes got too old and you remembered the dime was in there, you spent an hour digging it out. Then you taped the dime to your journal. It’s still there. You should’ve asked Mark R. if you could’ve had a ride in his Cabrio. He would’ve said yes. Remember how you and your friend would pass notes to him in the hallway? You’ll keep those letters. But you’ll never look at them until now when you’re writing this and you’re thinking about it.

The whirlwind that was junior, senior and then freshman college year will be worth it. Because of all of that, you learned to see everyone equally. And you’ll never forget hiding in the dorm closet with the alarm going off. Don’t worry about being shy. As you get older, you’ll learn to be more extroverted, even though inside, you feel the same as your teenage self. Still misunderstood.

Enjoy the friends you have, because as you get older, it becomes harder to make new friends. Never lose your love for animals.(Spoiler: you don’t.) You will keep the friend you’ve known since you were seven. The one that made mud pies with you. She also threw up on you and your stuffed panda on the bus in third grade, but we won’t talk about that. It remains a sore subject, and she still laughs about it.

You’ll reminisce about high school, but you won’t ever want to go back. And when you get to sophomore year college, daddy dies. It happens before you can fix your broken relationship. So you’re stuck with a lot of loose ends. You will work the rest of your life on that, and many times, not know what to do with them.

There will be a point in time where you will regret arguing and fighting with mom. Try not to do it too much. You can’t get that time back. Please, please listen.

Your life will not turn out as you planned. Nothing usually does. Your braces will come off and your teeth will look straight but then 15 years later, they will go back to where they were. Maybe I shouldn’t tell you that part. Sorry.

You’ll go to some tennis tournaments and have the time of your life. I’m not even gonna tell you what happens. I’m just gonna let you live it.

P.S. Do not get rid of the peach high top Converse. You know the ones where you wrote “I love Johnny Depp ❤️” on the sole? Don’t get rid of those. (She did.)

Just always remember to keep smiling and laughing even when things get really difficult. We got this.