Monday, February 28, 2011

Maddeningly Unhelpful Monday--Letters from the past

So I was reading my Freshman yearbook the other day. Yes, reading it. You know, the notes your classmates left in the margins and empty pages telling you to 'have a great summer' and 'keep in touch.' Actually, we had all the yearbooks out. My husband's four years and mine as well. The kids were looking at the pictures and laughing at the hairstyles. Anyway, I got to the middle of my yearbook and came across some familiar handwriting: my own. I had written a note and forgotten all about it.

The note was hilarious. It was actually addressed to my kids. It told them that I was weird (the writing a note to myself proved that point and didn't need to be reiterated with the statement, but whatever) and, among many other things, it told them to remind me of all the things I promised not to do when I became a parent. Ha! Curse you, my fourteen year old self who had no kids and thought it would be a walk in the park to raise children.

My kids laughed and laughed.........and laughed some more. My twelve year old daughter told me that I was a total nerd as a teenager. I didn't deny it. My maddeningly unhelpful advice is to not write your future self notes telling your future self how you should behave. It's not helpful at all.......but it is very funny, so maybe you should.

I will also take this time to tell my friend, Heather Hart, that I saved an entire page for her as noted by the 'saved for Heather Hart, don't anyone dare write on this page unless your name is Heather or I will kill you' at the top and it is very, very blank (aside from the few smart alecs who wrote 'hi' in the corners and will be found after some extensive handwriting comparisons are done). Heather, you owe me a letter about how cool summer is going to be along with how boring teachers are. And it better be a long one. I saved an entire page for you. :)

14 comments:

  1. Too funny! I love it. I wrote letters to myself way back when, so maybe I shouldn't hunt them out like I planned. :)

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  2. Hey! I have a page like that in my yearbook too! A whole blank one reserved for my friend Julie! I may have to track her down now...

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  3. What did Neal write?? Must know. :)

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  4. Oh man, you are brave. I haven't perused the old yearbooks in a long time. I don't really want to myself acting like a huge dork.

    Although I guess that's a futile wish. . .:)

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  5. That's awesome. I'm kind of afraid to look back in my yearbook. I've spent the last twelve years convincing myself I was awesome... I'd hate to be disappointed. ;)

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  6. Getting called out on the internet. Not cool. Ok, as I was reading this I totally remembered doing that: writing letters to our kids. I think I must have done the same thing, because you know, that's what we did back then...

    Alright, I'm finding my yearbook and then I'll be back. Because you are 2cool+2be+4gotten.

    PS Call me sumtyme!

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  7. How funny... I don't remember writing to my future self or my kids... maybe I wasn't as much of a nerd as you guys. Ha.
    I will have to look at my yearbooks on my next trip out to CA. Maybe Heather owes me a page too...

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  8. Janet, you're part of the future letter writing club? :) Awesome. You should definitely find them. They make for a good laugh.

    Chantele, I'm glad I'm not the only one. Yes, hunt her down and humiliate her like I did my friend. :)

    Candi, Hmmm, I don't remember if I read one from Neal. I didn't really know him as a freshman. I'll have to go look at my Sophomore and Junior ones again and look for Neal. That's more when we were friends.

    Renee, lol Yes, it was quite an eye opener. The notes from friends weren't as cool as I remember them being. :)

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  9. Jenn, yes, better to just live in denial. I think that's a good rule.

    Heather, yes, this is my new strategy to get what I want: humiliate friends. :) You wrote to your future self too?? That would actually make me feel better if it was a group idea. lol

    Annette, Yes, you'll have to look because you know the three of us shared one brain. If we did it, I'm sure you did as well. But you were the coolest among us, maybe you thought it was a nerdy idea.

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  10. I just love Mondays around your blog. :)

    You are a brave, brave woman, not only to go back and read your freshman yearbook, but actually show it to your kids. Kudos!

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  11. I live in fear of discovering a letter my past self wrote to future self.

    It exists somewhere and would not be pretty.

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  12. Linda, thanks. :) And if I had known about said letter, I might have kept it hidden longer.

    Janine, our past selves aren't the greatest judges of the future, are they? :) There's probably a lesson somewhere in there, but the only lesson I'm taking from it is, hide the letters. Hide them. :)

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  13. What a great post!
    And, as Linda said, you're so brave to show those letters to your kids! LOL
    Thanks for sharing!

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  14. I'm locking my journals up with teenage boys I would be mocked relentlessly.

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