Dear Me,

I’ve always felt an urge to do this, but now feels like the right moment. You have finally found a sense of who you are, and what morals drive you. You have found happiness at 20 years old, and I hope the same rings true at 30, so here goes nothing.

10 years from now, when you’re reading this, I have a lot of hopes for you. I hope you have a great career, whether you decided to teach second grade, or become a makeup artist. I have a feeling a lot of your likes will evolve, but the love for kids and cosmetics has been a fundamental part of you. I hope that if neither of those careers is what you are currently doing, then at least do something that makes you happy. If this is not the case, stop right now and take a good look at yourself. Money isn’t everything, a career doesn’t equal happiness. You make your own happiness, and this is one of the best things about you. You’ve always found a way to make things work, so if your job isn’t working anymore, pause, and make some modifications. I hope you realize that your happiness is still important in life, because I know how you are, and you can’t put that on the back burner. You are important.

If you are happy in your career, great! Another hope of mine is that you have a positive, healthy relationship with someone. I hope, more than anything in the world, it is with the person you are currently dating, because he is the nicest guy you’ve ever met. He makes you a better person, and you strive for more every day. But if it’s not, I hope you still remember how he made you feel. You respect him more than any other person in your life, and he is a fundamental part of your life right now. I hope that, if he isn’t in your life, you still think of him and smile, shaking your head at all the silly things he did. But, if he is, and I have a feeling he will be, I hope he still makes you feel the way he does right now. Right now, you are the happiest you’ve ever been in your life because of the support and love he gives you. He is one of your biggest allies and friends, and I hope that connection remains. Never let it go.

I hope you still talk to all of your friends. Now granted, friends come and go in life, but you know the ones I’m talking about. Right now, I’m about to enter junior year. The girls I’m living with are the greatest people I’ve ever met. Take a second, smile, laugh, and think. You still talk to them? Yes? HECK YEAH! They are your soulmates and champions, and will always have your back. No? Well get out the phone book, because no matter the distance, they were there for you. They helped you through things no one else could, like crying over last minute papers and whether or not you were truly in love with someone. Maybe the friendships ended, heck I don’t know, but no matter what, I want to remind you that these girls changed your life. Always be thankful for them. Also, you better still talk to your family tree, because big and little will always have your back, and you will have theirs. They are your ‘family’ in this moment, and hopefully forever.

I hope you are still as close to your family as you are right now. The past few years brought on a lot of changes and scars. The divorce, Dad getting remarried and having a baby, Mom moving, it was a lot. In this moment, you are finally OK, and feeling comfortable in your own skin in these new dynamics. I hope that this still applies. Your half-brother will be 10, and most likely an uncle, but right now he’s a little baby who loves it when you grab his feet and stick out your tongue. Life flies by, and while you never expected this, nothing is ever set in stone. I hope you still love them all the way you do now, and the same for you. You can’t change them, or the situation, you can only love them for their flaws.

Most of all, I hope you look back on the past 10 years and have no regrets. Yes, there are mistakes and challenges in life, everyone faces them, but don’t have regrets. The path you took was set before you for a reason. I love the fact you always dream big and changes things up, so keep following those dreams. Keep living passionately, and being silly. Keep dancing in the middle of the grocery store like you do right now. Keep reading and writing. Keep those you love close, and never let them go. Right now, you are happy, but are looking to the future as one big question. You have been wondering what you’ll be doing, if your married, with kids, if you stay close with everyone in your current life. Future me, you probably have some of these answers, but not all of them. You aren’t supposed to have all the answers though, even though you hate surprises and are really impatient. You’ll still be giving others advice and never taking your own, and that is OK! I hope you still live by sass and spunk and kindness, because that is who you are.

Future me, I hope this letter made you laugh and remember. I hope all of my current dreams have come true, but if not, keep trying. If they have, then keep wishing, because you do that best of all.

All the love in the world,

You