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Suggested prompt...
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Write a letter to your young self.
Offer advice, an anecdote, anything you want to say to you.
_______________________
To my 16 year old self...
Dear Erin-
After four decades I feel that I have the right to say what I know you were thinking back then, but couldn't bring yourself to believe it. (Quit rolling your eyes, young lady!)
You will find the love of your life, but not in some faraway place. He will be right under your nose, practically in your backyard, even though you don't believe it could be possible with all the clods you go to school with. And he will love you more completely than you could ever have thought possible. He will treat you with respect and care and will bring you much happiness. Just be open to the possibilities all around you.
Don't let others tell you that your interests are wrong. Go with your gut. Take those art classes you want to take, jump up on stage and start singing your heart out. I know you are waiting and hoping that someone will take you by the hand and lead you there and tell you that they have been waiting for you all along to share your gifts with the world. That just ain't gonna happne, girl! You need to believe in yourself enough to be your own best cheerleader. Don't waste another minute! At 40, I have finally found where my path in life was leading...if I had just had the confidence at 16 that I do now, there is now telling where I would be now! But I know that there is no where else to go but up and you are laying the foundation back in 1984. Make it strong.
Trust yourself.
Believe you are made for bringing light and joy to those around you.
You are not alone, your life is not lived in vain, and there are so many people who will come to be inspired and hopeful because you are in their lives.
Believe that there is a greater calling to your life and that you are meant to live it.
This is not some hooey I am telling you, I've been there. I am living it!
Love, Me (gray hair, wrinkles and all)
~ TesoriTrovati
It was very hard to pick one piece for today's front page. All the offerings for this prompt were excellent. ~ Laura Jayne
One week after the photo or picture is posted I will pick one offering to put beneath the image. This is a way of celebrating exceptional creativity. Any and all posts are available for your creative mind to make an offering at any time (even ones where a writing has been placed on the front page like this one). If you are new here and want to offer to every image here, feel free. We are writers, WRITE!
If this is your exceptional writing posted here on the Front Page Pictures, Poetry & Prose invites you to include the Exceptional Writing Award Button on your blog. Visit the Exceptional Writing Award post for the details and the button to download.
17 comments:
just do it
mhm
that
just do it
the other thing too
youll regret not the doing
but the not doing
Such a tiny little postal box...cute.
For the girl I was at twelve:
Dear Heather, Before you think that you need to grow up too quickly, I want to share a few words of experience with you. I could tell you all of the places you'll find yourself later in life, but I won't. Honey, all of these places were meant for you to find. They will bring you strength, growth, love and heartache; but they're all meant to define who you are.
For, the most important path to life is following God, knowing yourself and living in the freedom of those two truths. You're much more special and needed than you think; remember that. Try not to conform to the image called perfection, it's a lie and there is no life in it. True life and the treasures that it holds will be found within you, not in the world; so, take the Hand of Jesus and walk with Him as you become the young woman He's creating you to be.
Remembering Me,
Heather at age 36 ;o)
(Oh and don't you worry, you'll find that man you hoped would love you "for you". You'll have plenty of them, in your very own home someday...trust yourself.)
~oh yes, this is the letter that I'd send to myself ;o)
Dear Dan,
Remember to wish everyone on Laura's Blog a Merry Christmas and thank them for all the wonderful comments, stories and poems over the last few months since I have begun to follow the blog. Be sure to tell them what great writers they all are and thank them for sharing sometimes very personal thoughts and ideas.
Yours Truly,
Me
Dear Jim,
You'll find that someday an event will occur in your life to completely change it. While it may be devastating, even painfully crippling, it will only strengthen you.
The smile that you had when you were a kid, the confidence when you approached an obstacle then, are going to help you through any crisis.
Be mature but think young and keep that wild spirit with you. Remember your Boy Scout oath to be physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.
Never try to swim upstream or piss into the wind. Keep your wits and good friends about you. Live long and love hard, respect the environment, and enjoy living.
Good luck.
Dear avr,
Don't break up with your fiance that you met in Church (when you were 20). This meeting was a gift from God. He is your prince and will give you a good life. Put your petty complaints about him aside and see his true worth. Marry him! You will not be sorry.
To my 16 year old self...
Dear Erin-
After four decades I feel that I have the right to say what I know you were thinking back then, but couldn't bring yourself to believe it. (Quit rolling your eyes, young lady!)
You will find the love of your life, but not in some faraway place. He will be right under your nose, practically in your backyard, even though you don't believe it could be possible with all the clods you go to school with. And he will love you more completely than you could ever have thought possible. He will treat you with respect and care and will bring you much happiness. Just be open to the possibilities all around you.
Don't let others tell you that your interests are wrong. Go with your gut. Take those art classes you want to take, jump up on stage and start singing your heart out. I know you are waiting and hoping that someone will take you by the hand and lead you there and tell you that they have been waiting for you all along to share your gifts with the world. That just ain't gonna happne, girl! You need to believe in yourself enough to be your own best cheerleader. Don't waste another minute! At 40, I have finally found where my path in life was leading...if I had just had the confidence at 16 that I do now, there is now telling where I would be now! But I know that there is no where else to go but up and you are laying the foundation back in 1984. Make it strong.
Trust yourself.
Believe you are made for bringing light and joy to those around you.
You are not alone, your life is not lived in vain, and there are so many people who will come to be inspired and hopeful because you are in their lives.
Believe that there is a greater calling to your life and that you are meant to live it.
This is not some hooey I am telling you, I've been there. I am living it!
Love, Me (gray hair, wrinkles and all)
Dear Roland,
You don't know me but I read the short story you wrote, "Yanob the Stonecutter". It was amazing! You have a gift my friend. Don't squander it! Go back to school and hone your skills. You won't regret it. Trust me!
RCBonay
Dear Barbara,
You love writing letters to penpals, now. But get some more and write, write, write. When you get into your 50s, they are going to be cherished friends who have seen you through good and bad
times in your life.
Although you won't see them often in person, they will always be in your heart. You'll admire photos of their children and cry with them through illnesses and divorce and smile with their photos of their grandchildren.
While you are young, don't get too busy to write a note if you don't have time for a long letter. Stay with these lovely people who have been put into your life to love and enjoy from afar.
Love,
Barbara
TesoriTrovati, simply beautiful! Your words put water to my eyes and I heard your message to self as a statement to my own heart, even for today. God has spoken to me through your beautiful words.
Blessed are we,
Heather
Dear Me,
What a challenge you have set me. What advice can I offer my young self? And, more importantly, will I listen to it? I suppose one way of assessing what advice to offer is to think about my regrets. What do I regret. Apart from the loss of my older son I have none. No, the life ahead of you is not perfect but what you will find very often is that things you thought of at the time as ‘Bad Things’ may well turn out to provide you with something good or with a useful lesson in life.
If I could alter anything it would be the amount of debt I have got into over the years. If at all possible pay for things up front. If something is important to you, save up for it. Don’t just buy it on credit. That way you end up buying things you don’t need that much and getting into debt for no good reason.
Secondly, don’t put the needs of others ahead of your own needs too often. It is one thing being caring and looking after others but it is another when you allow that to subjugate your own self and your own enjoyment of life. You will also find that trying to please all of the people all of the time is impossible anyway.
Apart from those two things the best advice I can offer is listen your own inner voice. It will guide you far better than others, including me, can do. Enjoy life, take care of yourself and remember to love yourself,
Love,
Me
Dear Me,
Don't you worry little one, you ARE going to be just lovely when you grow up! ;)
Me
PS: I am not in a frame of mind today to pen a more serious note, and I think I really would have a lot to say, but it'll have to wait for another day. Great prompt! I have to also add that PPP is now a little piece of extra happiness in my life. The prompts are great and the responses so special to read. Thanks Laura Jayne and all the other contributors!
I know you are scared. I know you are acting out. I know why.
But just know that you will come in to yourself. You are unique, a good person, you can be proud of who you become.
As far as parents...forgive your father. Forgive your mother. You'll learn that you will have some not so great moments yourself. You will think you're doing the best you can, and there will be times you know you're not, but do it anyway.
I can tell you that you will become an honorable person, a funny person, a loving person.
I hold you in loving acceptance, and wish the world for you, and who you can become, still.
Dear Molly,
Remember to take the pills your dad tells you to. Also, remember to not put glue in Taylor's backpack in the fourth grade. You think it's funny when you're doing it. Trust me, they knew it was you. Also, don't run backwards. Ever. All you're going to do is break bones. When your friend asks you out in the 8th grade, don't turn him down. It would make things a lot better. Don't be afraid to hug your friends tight; they do leave unexpectedly. When asked who broke the lamp, don't blame it on the dog. You'll only feel guilty for weeks. Remember your mom's birthday. Don't use matches (you're the type of person that lighters were invented for; the type that burns themselves). I'm not going to tell you to not get tackled by a large boy with curly hair who shall go unnamed, because it will be too much fun to see the other, smaller boy's jealousy. Don't let those security guards keep you out of the R-rated movies. Convince them to ditch. It was fun.
I have no worldly advice for you, other than to follow my instructions above.
Love,
Your slightly (but not too much) older self
Dear Cynthia,
Don't eat that funny tasting Hot Dog at McCrawry's when you're 4 years old. I know Mom will tell you that you can't have that doughnut with the pink frosting unless you take one more bite but, trust me, it won't be worth it.
Love,
Cynthia
Dearest Little Nancy,
You don’t know this yet, but you are going to live a long, long life full of many people you’ll love and who will love you back. It’s very important that you allow yourself to love these people and to share with them the gifts you will be given by That Which Creates All (some people call this being “God”.) Someday, someone will do something that will hurt you in your loving heart and you’ll feel that you’ll never recover from that big hurt, but remember this – by giving your love outward, even when it hurts to do so, you’ll never be without more than enough love to keep you well.
The one thing I want you to hold in your heart, even when it feels almost impossible, is that the only thing that is truly real is Love. This Love is the energy that comes from That Which Creates All and is the very force of life that gives you the power to overcome any obstacle. All obstacles are ideas we create to experience the process of creating along with That Which Creates All. When we get all wrapped around our imaginary axles (like a dog chasing its tail, thinking it may someday catch it) we make foolish decisions and cause ourselves much distress. The only way to avoid doing this is to remember that only Love is real. Everything else is our imagination.
I love you. I’ve always loved you and will always love you and will Always Love You.
NLL
To a young lad, forty years past.
I who am ahead by forty years,
And write this peculiar rhyme,
Send you my words, in arrears,
Backward down through time.
I’ll not warn you what to eat
Or what paths your life should take
And nothing of the lovers you may meet;
Such are the choices you will make.
But it’s attitude that makes the man,
So be kind to all you meet.
Use humour everywhere you can
And think before you speak.
How shall your life ahead unfold?
I know and yet I don’t, of course
Take heed of everything you’re told
But move on, without remorse.
O friend, known yet beyond my touch,
Sharer of my life and genes
I really cannot tell you much.
I am getting on; you are in your teens.
But since I can never take your place,
Nor lift you when you fall,
I send my love through time and space
To free you. You will have a ball.
(Based on Flecker's poem: To a poet a thousand years hence.)
Dear Laura Jayne (and all the talented writers in our midst!):
I hadn't checked the daily winners in awhile and was surprised to see my letter. This was such a great prompt. And all the writings were so inspired I can imagine it was hard to choose. I will be posting this on my blog with a link to you! Enjoy the day!
Erin, TesoriTrovati
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