prompt: a letter to a little girl i knew so well

1. you will grow into a woman of boundaries. you won’y always lose your voice at someone expressing theirs, and your resilience is a marked point in your personality.

2. using your voice and developing a backbone early, wont come from anything other than trial and error, love and loss. this is evidence that you tried and tried again, and that you loved again despite the loss.

3. you carry secrets of your own and others you’ll take to your grave.

4. at 17 you meet a boy who plays with your heart for near 5 whole years, but in that time you learn about yourself. your heart will hurt but mom will pick you up, dust you off and set you straight each time, reminding you who raised you. you learn about your resilience here, and your values.

5. remember when you said you wanted to be a mortician? well, you really wanted it. youve worked on opening and saving 3 funeral homes by the time you’re 25. some of your most respected relationships come from the industry you grow to have the least respect for. you learn about moral and ethical challenges here, you learn you can make a difference in a big way.

6. you wont always feel as bad as you do at 15.

7. sweetnesses always sound sweeter rolling off the tongue of a man with brown eyes and no promise of tomorrow, you learn to love the sound of silence.

8. you knew yourself all along.

9. learn to trust your gut, especially about people. people will take advantage of you, this says more about them than it does about you.

10. despite giving all your effort, you with still be called abraisive, mean and cold. this isn’t all about what you give to others, but rather what they can’t. envy presents in strange ways.

11. time heals all wounds and scars are bragging rights of survival.

12. you’re hellbent on better

13. no guts, no glory