Dear 16 Year Old Me

16 Year old me

Dear Heather,
This is some information that I wish you would have had when you were 16 years old to have helped you along in life.

• Please don't get that perm you think will look so good, IT WONT and by the time the perm phase has ended, you will still be suffering with it.
• Beer doesn't taste good coming back up, so put it down, its really not funny to look like an idiot.
• Sit and listen to your grandpa Elmore talk about his serving as a medic in WWII. He passes away unexpectedly and you never get the chance to realize how lucky he was to have come home.
• Always smile when Uncle Rick has the video camera in your face. When you get older, you will cherish the times of seeing yourself young again 
• Spend more time with your family, you will be on your own soon enough and you will miss them
• Continue to love your cousins and always be there for them. You all will go through so much together.
• Learn now to cook and bake from mom and grandma. You don't want to live on macaroni and cheese forever.
• Please pass on the urge to color your own hair at 2:00 in the morning, it turns out green and orange in places and you have to end up paying the salon to do it anyway.
• Don't be afraid of life, grab it with everything you've got and hold on
• Get to know your parents. You never know when they will be gone for good.
• Be nice to your siblings, they are your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
• understand that friends come and go but a precious few, who should, hold on!
• Never miss an opportunity to dance in the rain    
• Don't spend any more time crying over your boyfriend who you thought you would stay with for ever. You end up meeting this amazing man who is far more than anything you could ask for as a husband.
• Love like there is no tomorrow
• STOP and put on sunscreen, I know you want a tan but its not worth it
• STOP and don't get into the tanning bed. When you are 37 you will be diagnosed with malignant melanoma cancer and you will be educated far more then you would ever want to be. www.melanoma.org     www.cancer.gov  www.cancer.org   www.dcmf.ca