Monday, November 3, 2008

A letter to me

First, let me get this out of the way. THANK YOU for not getting too hot headed in the Prop 8 comments. I think, for the most part, people were able to disagree civilly. I appreciate those of you who took the time to write passionately about your opinion. I can't say that I've changed my mind, but I can say that I've learned a few things, and had some of my "facts" corrected. That in itself made it worth it. It's kind of exciting when you write something that gets husbands (mine included!) to come out of the woodwork and post, even if it's just to disagree with me (mine included).

I'd also like to thank Harmony for flinging around her Peace Cookies. I think it would have gotten ugly without them :).


So anyway...

I was in the van today listening to the country station. I swear I can stop anytime. Really. Some song came on about a guy writing a letter to himself as a 17 year old. (Sorry--I don't know the artist or the title). He gave himself advice based on the hindsight gained through becoming a thirty something adult.

And it got me thinking.

Knowing what I know now, what would I want to tell my 17 year old self?

This is what I came up with.

1. Study more, even if you don't need to.
2. Skip the Cliff's notes and read the book.
3. Get your license.
4. Start exercising.
5. Take more pictures of your friends.
6. Be better at keeping in touch with your Fairfield friends.
7. Read that Book of Mormon you were given.
8. Be nicer to your sister.
9. Be nicer to Will. No really, you need to listen to me on this one.
10. Skip Sweet Briar.
11. Nip it in the bud. You're better off the way things are now. Honestly.
12. Open a savings account.
13. Someday you'll be glad you moved here.
14. Major in Anthropology.
15. Take the art courses.
16. Take German.
17. Go to a Down There Doc and get the plumbing looked at. Your baby oven is broken.
18. The acne never goes away.
19. Learn piano.
20. Tom Cruise? TOTAL. NUT. JOB.

So, what would you want to tell your 17 year old self?



Me at 17.
Holy big hair and blue eye shadow, Batman.

10 comments:

  1. Getting the husband to comment is a HUGE achievement--kudos to you for putting it out there.

    I actually really enjoyed reading everyone's comments (while busy throwing cookies--I think it kept everyone's blood sugar up so they could think clearly!)

    I really should market those bad boys.

    I think I would tell my 17 year old self to stop wasting time on the "bad boys". Also to stop hot wiring cars (whole other story--also involving bad boys)

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  2. I love Brad Paisley!! You ARE a country fan! :) I would tell my self to let things go and be nicer to everybody. I would tell myself too many things to count, but I am glad that things worked out the way they did. I would TOTALLY go back just to do a few things differently.

    Hey Harmony, I picked locks and set things on fire. . misspent youths unite! :) Ditto on the boys. Good thing they grow up.

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  3. Great picture of you Brandi! Was that a glamour shots? No hard feelings with the prop 8 post. To be honest, I was even very surprised that Perry took the time to comment. He usually just browses and doesn't bother with the comments, but you struck a chord with him and a lot of people.
    There are a lot of things that I would do differently and a few of of them are already on your list! (study, exercise, be nicer to siblings, read BofM, also not waste so much time with certain boys, not care so much about what other people think.) Love these thought-provoking posts.

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  4. Nope, not a Glamour shot (although it may as well be). That's my senior picture. Half of our class all went the same photographer (who also did hair and make up) and all the girls ended up looking like that. Apparently his signature was the hair-halo light effect.

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  5. I love the hair halo! To my 17 year-old self: take your senior year seriously by taking "real" classes despite the fact that you're planning on making the army a career (haha!). Choose another career option, in fact, just choose dietetics right from the start so you can skip the whole changing majors thing. Tell your creepy recruiter to stay away! :)

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  6. LOL, are you joking?!? There's WAY too much to tell my 17 year old self, starting with "You don't know everything". And I guess I was hanging out with Harmony, cause I was into the "bad boys" too!

    Good post.... maybe I'll go put my answers on my blog!

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  7. I really learned a lot from your prop blog. I'm glad you posted what you did. I don't think my husband would ever post on someone's blog, let alone look at one. Of course...he would have to be here to do that. Oh well.

    I think I would tell my 17 year old self...nothing. I learned a lot from those silly mistakes. Well, maybe kissing THAT many boys wasn't that important. It sure seemed so at the time, though.

    Can I just say that I am so glad you have a blog!!! Brandi, you are the coolest ever. I miss you tons!

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  8. Hmmm, what to tell my 17 year old self..."Quit being a lazy partier and go to college- yes, take the time to write those essays and fill out those forms and just go!" Although I admit that joining the AF was the best thing for me, I still wish I had gone to college so I would not STILL be working on that darn degree.

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  9. O.k. totally loved this post...

    Thanks for the laugh.

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  10. "9. Be nicer to Will. No really, you need to listen to me on this one."

    Still a good idea. :-)

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Be nice or I'll punch you in the taco.

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