Hey, 18-year-old me, it's 21-year-old me. I know you don't fully understand what this birthday and this next year is going to bring you, but that's why I'm writing this. I'm you, three years older, and (hopefully, but no promises) wiser.
I know you just spent the day goofing around with your best friend, and I'm here to tell you to treasure moments like that. Right now, your life is as easy and predictable as Mom's garlic pasta on a Monday night. All you know is school five days a week, homework, extracurricular activities, and Starbucks runs with the girls. In a couple months, you're going to graduate high school. Three months after that, you're leaving for college. In short, everything you have ever known is about to be hundreds of miles away. I can't begin to tell you how much things have changed in the last three years.
I know you're ready to be done with high school, but I want you to savor it. High school is by no means the best part of your life, but it's the last bit of free education you are ever going to get. The hallways, the teachers, the people- take a good look around, because soon it's going to be gone.
Savor your friends. There are many you will keep in contact with, but very few you can honestly say you remain close with as you all journey to college on opposite ends of the country. You'll meet up on breaks, but it won't ever be completely the same.
Appreciate Mom and Dad. I know Mom gets on your back about things and you fight, but she loves you more than you could ever know. Next year, you'll be calling her on the phone in tears in the middle of the night, and you'll realize just how much you need her. Dad is about to fork over your entire college tuition, and you don't know how long he's been saving up to send you to school. Appreciate them, because you need them more than you think.
Oh, and that boy? You know exactly who I'm talking about, he's probably Facebook messaging you as I speak. Listen, honey: I know you think he put the stars in the sky, but he is nowhere near the be-all end-all. Have your fun with him, but please don't let him dictate your happiness. He's only a side character in the great novel of your life.
In the next three years, you're going to say a lot of goodbyes and a lot of new hellos. You're going to meet people that are absolutely amazing and people that suck. You're going to laugh a lot, drink a lot, and cry a lot. You're going to experience triumphs and mistakes. And guess what? You're going to be okay.
Just take a look around, because the next thing you know, you're falling face-first into adulthood, wondering where the time has gone.
