Yes, you are adorable with your new lunch box and favorite skort. No, growing up (and the fashion world), is not everything it's cracked up to be. I could sit here right now and write to you and explain all the ups and downs coming your way, but I'm not going to. Instead, let's take it one step at a time, a couple of years each step. Because let's face it, where you are right now is the prime time of your childhood and the glory days of school, and I'm not quite sure whether to tell you that growing up gets better or worse.

So here you are, in maybe 1st or 2nd grade. You have your favorite strap-on flats, pigtails with bangs across your forehead, and that new LLBean backpack that you got to design (warning: Mommy and Daddy are going to make you keep that backpack until 5th or 6th grade, so try not to hate the embroidered butterflies too much). You're lucky enough to have your best friend Mikayla from kindergarten, still attached at the hip. Spoiler alert: she's still around today. All I can really say now is that these next couple years are a piece of cake, and although I can't remember every little memory I made in that small hallway, I'm sure it was a blast.

Now, if I remember correctly, 3rd and 4th graders get to be upstairs (so cool, am I right?) By now you have your best buds that you giggle with in class each day, and the way you organize your notebooks, sticky notes, and crayons in your desk is VERY important. You have learned how to hold a notebook, #2 pencils, post-it notes, and a worksheet with just one hand on your desk while you open it, so that they don't all go crashing to the floor. Speaking of learning, how's learning to write in cursive? Disclaimer: you will never ever have to use it until you take the SATs, but even then it doesn't have to look pretty! Also, before I forget...that "Better Choice Slip" that you are gonna get? Don't sweat it, Daddy doesn't get too mad and Mommy with hold you while you cry and apologize to them over and over. As much as every student in the school dreads those yellow sheets, just remember the Foot you got at the last C.L.I.M.B. assembly! (Just so you know, you will somehow always remember the words to the CLIMB song as well, sorry!)

Finally, the last couple of years. 5th and 6th grade are here. This is where recess is taken seriously, now that you have learned that you won't get that anymore once you go to middle school. These precious years are where you get to have a book buddy to read to, and school carnivals to attend without mom and dad. This is where you will watch your first presidential election (politics get much more entertaining as you get older, just be happy for the fact that you get to watch TV in class instead of going across the hall for Science!) By now, unfortunately for you, you have to endure your first health class, and learn about the many "miracles" that come along with being a growing girl who is about to be a middle schooler (smh). You go through the *torturous* drama of having a crush on, well, I don't need to say, right? Sorry to break it to you honey, but he isn't going to end up your boyfriend, no matter how much you may think he likes you (another spoiler: just because boys tease you does not mean they like you, so don't expect that to be a trend forever).

But darling, sweet, little you, middle school is like a whole new world, a big change, it's definitely different, it's HUGE! I know that 10 different teachers sounds scary, and the fact that now you have to carry your books around is absolutely insane, but trust me you were well prepared for this. While going from the smallest elementary school in your town to the full force of middle school may seem rather intimidating, it's really not that bad. I swear.

Now, listen closely. While I don't remember everything, I can give you a sneak peek into the rest of your life to where I am at so far, sitting here in my college dorm. You won't get to "walk to school" again until you are walking to classes in college, the Feet you got at assemblies will hang on the bulletin board in the kitchen until you move out, and all the best friends you made will have changed, both good and bad. Mikayla is still one of your best friends, still only 10 minutes away. Your brother, while he annoys you now, will become a friend soon enough (and I promise the fighting and arguing between you guys stops). Mom and Dad are still gonna make a scene when they send you off to the first day of any new school (especially college). I promise you that you will learn so much in the coming years, it's going to be hard to remember what elementary school was even all about. But while you're there, soak it all in, because that little school at the end of the street isn't gonna be "cool" forever.

(And p.s. -- skorts are out of style.)