Dearest Lucille,
First of all, you are beautiful–the most lovely you will ever be. Ignore those blackheads and arm pimples that blemish your adorable body. They will be replaced by cellulite and wrinkles of time travels. Celebrate your youthful beauty for it is fleeting.
Stop baking in the sun! Forget your homemade concoction of iodine and baby oil that burns your skin to a crisp. Use sunscreen instead to prevent future skin scrapings from expensive dermatologists. Yes, you have the perfect bronze tan, but I blame you for every skin cancer and sun spot.
Don’t sit by the phone waiting for that guy to call. Go out with your girlfriends and enjoy yourself. There will be many boyfriends that breeze in and out of your life. Your close female friends last a lifetime.
You do NOT have to make straight As. Give yourself permission to make a B or even a C. You stress out over grades and tests. Don’t leave the ballgame early to go home and study…go to the A&W root beer stand with the gang.
Close those textbooks and learn some life skills….how to change a tire, give CPR, install a toilet stopper, cook Southern fried chicken and interview for a job. And quit complaining about the required personal typing class…it will be the most useful course you take in high school.
Eat those fruits and veggies that adorn Mama’s table. Daddy brings home the freshest produce from the market and you refuse it, preferring eats from the Burger King down the street. One day you will pay $2 for a mango and $9 for a watermelon. You will long for the fresh bounty that you forsake all those years.
Instead of being such a moody brat, smile more and cease the rolling eyes. Don’t talk back to your mother and give her such a hard time. Someday you’ll have your own mouthy daughter. Life’s paybacks are Hell!
Quit complaining about family parties. You will wish you had spent more time with that crazy aunt, the odd-ball uncle, the Nonna that pinched your cheeks and your annoying parents. Treasure the time you have them. They will leave you much too soon.
Don’t be envious of the flirty cheerleaders that date the gorgeous football hunks. Class reunions prove that folks who peak in their early teens are over the hill by age 25. And that pimply-faced nerd with the overbite that you once dissed…he’s a hot actor in the Big Apple now!
Keep the commemorative program from the Beach Boys concert, Kennedy for President button and the original Beatles album. Antiques Roadshow awaits you.
Appreciate what you take for granted. When you’re doing your own laundry, cooking your own meals and paying your bills, you’ll realize how good you once had it.
Take risks.
Believe in you.
Love yourself first.
Dream big.
Live in the moment.
Start your Bucket List today.
Finally, stop wishing to be older. Youth lasts for a brief moment. Adulthood is forever.
Lots of Love from your older self, Lucy (you dropped the hated Lucille moniker in college)
PS When your best friend volunteers to dye and then perm your hair…Just say NO!
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Living my personal mission statement, “Each One, Teach One,” my greatest blessing is being the mother of two, grandmother of three and a lifelong educator. A graduate of UF and UNF, I am the former principal of St. Paul’s Catholic School in Jacksonville Beach, Florida and executive director of Tree Hill Nature Center in Jacksonville.
Since retirement my avocation is now my vocation – freelance writing. The technical writing of past professional life evolved into more creative genres of poetry, short fiction and memoir. My goal is to invoke the entire spectrum of human emotions in my reader: longing to laughter, pain to promise, despair to discernment.
