Dear 14 year-old me,

I know you’re sitting there, getting ready to cross that barrier between middle school and high school, literally hating everyone and everything, because what else is there to do?

I know you’re checking your ENVYTouch waiting for that cute boy from math class to text you, and hoping you don’t go over your texting minutes this month.

I know your low-rise Abercrombie jeans are the best things that have ever happened to you.

And I know you can’t wait to be in high school and just grow up already. But please, don't try to grow up so fast.

Please don’t wish this time away. Don’t wish away the nights with your friends that you have had since you were in kindergarten. As soon as you get to high school and blink, it will all be over and you will be going to separate schools, down separate paths.

Don’t wish that a boy would text you; boys are never worth the time, or tears that you put into them. Especially when you are in high school. Dad is the only guy you can trust. Don’t put other girls down, lift them up. Don’t participate in catty high school drama. Be the nice girl.

Save your innocence. Don’t let other girls, guys, or society corrupt you, or the values that you have grown up with. Stay true to yourself, girl even if it’s hard sometimes.

Listen to Mom and Dad, even if it feels like everything inside you wants to rebel. They always know best.

Finally, know that the years of growing up are tough, but in this time, you will find your truest of friends, and begin growing into an awesome young woman.

Appreciate the years where your oldest friends are still by your side making memories that will last forever and watching movies with you. Where you can have a home-cooked meal every night and not live off of Velveeta in a dorm. Most importantly, cherish the time where you can still be a kid, because those years went by all too fast. Soon you’ll be off to college and wishing you could have the free time and innocence you had at age 14.

Love,

You in five years.