This too, shall pass.

Five years ago, I was one of the nerdiest kids you'd ever meet. I was in both band and theatre, I obsessed over Fall Out Boy, and I couldn't wait to graduate and begin my journey to becoming a Band Director. Three of those things are still true, and I am definitely still a nerd, but that isn't the point.

The point is that I'm writing this article for my past self to see, and realize, that no matter what's going on currently, current me is at a point in her life where nothing could be better. I have never been more content with how things are, and while I know that they won't be like this forever, I hope they are for a very long time.

So, past me, I hope you take this seriously and listen to what I have to tell you.

By the time you start school, you'll be starting your first year of high school band, and you'll be so excited. Your first marching contest will scare you, while also being the best thing you've ever experienced. You'll go on to march Drum Corps two years later and you'll be in your college's marching band a year after that.

The boy who broke your heart over the summer will confess his feelings for you all over again in August, and it'll feel like nothing had changed between you two. He'll be the one you stay with through college, spending the days planning weekends to see each other.

Over the span of this year and the next, your 'best friend' will change so often that you won't be able to keep up with who it is. But at the beginning of your junior year, a clumsy little freshman will stumble her way into your life to become the absolute best friend you've ever had.

In December, you'll be cast in your first show and you'll be so ecstatic, only to find out that acting isn't for you. The next three years have a place for you on the technical side, Stage Managing four more successful shows. It's a lot of hard work, but it won't be a problem for you.

In February, your favorite band will finally get back together and begin making music again, and you'll come home one day to find your mom surprising you with tickets to see them in June.

I have news for you, kid: four years later, you'll buy tickets on your own to see them in November. For the third time.

In May, you'll make the decision that you want to go to college eight hours away, and study Music Education to become a band director. I am currently living to tell you that you were wrong about that. I'm an hour and 15 minutes from home, and I'm pursuing a degree in Technical Theatre to become a professional Stage Manager.

By the time you've finished your Freshman year, so many things will feel so messed up, while others will feel like they're finally in the right place. It'll be hard at first. But you'll make it through, trust me. I live to tell the tale.