Me, age 15I was digging though my piles of forgotten stuff for Flashback Friday fodder (ie something really great to embarrass myself with) and low and behold, I came across the letter I wrote to my future self (well, my 23 year old self) when I was fifteen.
This was a class assignment and my teacher promised to mail the letters to us eight years after they were written - and though I remembered writing the letter, I didn't expect to get it in the mail one day. But I did! (thank you, Mr. Kelderman!)
I was in my last semester of college, engaged to Will, and (surprise!) the week I received my letter, I discovered I was pregnant with Gracie. Already an exciting point in my life, and then there came the letter, full of my fifteen-year-old chatter as I fired four pages worth of idiotic questions at myself. It cracked me up. Especially the questions and assumptions that were spot on (Ques: Do 21st century styles resemble the 80's by any chance? Ans: YES! The 2004 fashions in London were pretty much all puffed sleeves and neon, and, I kid you not, mini-mullets were all the rage in Europe).
And, of course, I loved the part where I said, "I guess I will have at least one book out by now. Maybe two."
Dear 15-year-old Marisa, if you wanted to be published by 23, why the heck didn't you actually finish a story sooner, huh? HUH?
So, here is the letter, condensed quite a lot, but the gist of it is there:
This was a class assignment and my teacher promised to mail the letters to us eight years after they were written - and though I remembered writing the letter, I didn't expect to get it in the mail one day. But I did! (thank you, Mr. Kelderman!)
I was in my last semester of college, engaged to Will, and (surprise!) the week I received my letter, I discovered I was pregnant with Gracie. Already an exciting point in my life, and then there came the letter, full of my fifteen-year-old chatter as I fired four pages worth of idiotic questions at myself. It cracked me up. Especially the questions and assumptions that were spot on (Ques: Do 21st century styles resemble the 80's by any chance? Ans: YES! The 2004 fashions in London were pretty much all puffed sleeves and neon, and, I kid you not, mini-mullets were all the rage in Europe).
And, of course, I loved the part where I said, "I guess I will have at least one book out by now. Maybe two."
Dear 15-year-old Marisa, if you wanted to be published by 23, why the heck didn't you actually finish a story sooner, huh? HUH?
So, here is the letter, condensed quite a lot, but the gist of it is there:
(you can click the pages to enlarge)
And if you're wondering if The Client is still one of my favorite books - not really. My John Grisham phase ended that summer.And did I find Meg's Mystery in Williamsburg (one of the books that inspired my dream to be a writer)- yes, and I blogged about it here.
Is Arcadia by Tom Stoppard still my favorite play - Yes, and blogged about it here!
And do I still want 5 kids (with totally weird names) - Uh, no. Absolutely not.
And seriously, 15-year-old Marisa... what was with the obsessive Days of Our Lives questions?
---------------
Have a flashback of your own? Pop on by Tia's blog and join in the fun!
xoxo,
18 comments:
Too funny! I remember assignments like that in high school...how cool to have the teacher mail the letters!
p.s. I was totally obsessed with Days in HS too!!! Lol!
Happy Friday!
Personally I loved the entire paragraph devoted to Days of Our Lives! *sigh* Whatever happened to Austin Peck?
And if you mean Hair as in the musical/song from the musical, can I just tell you that I was OBSESSED with it too when I was younger :)
Haha - this was very entertaining and it gave me some flashbacks to my own 15 year old self who - if I ever had the chance to go back in time and meet up with - I would totally go all Biff Tannen on.
I was a douche.
I kinda wish I had a teacher that made me do this! I think it would've been fun! I imagine that I would have asked myself Days questions too!
Can I just say that I LOVE your matching shirt and belt!!!
Oh yes - the tee and matching belt . . . love it!
I won't even tell you the crazy names I had picked out for MY children. Gah. Good thing for them I came to my senses before they were born. ;-)
I've never watched Days Of Our Lives. Did the storyline pan out like you expected?
Days of Our Lives... ahaha! Glad I wasn't the only one obsessively watching.
Melissa - I have no clue if things panned out... I stopped watching after a couple years of the same storyline repeated over and over. Couldn't handle how tedious it was!
O.M.G. This is so funny I think I might laugh Coke Zero out of my nose! Dear 15 Marisa, the only 80's fashions that seem to want to come back are leg warmers and stirrup pants. EW. The mullet has never quite died. Double EW. I love that you worried about having to eat astronaut food. Too awesome!
omg, too funny. Five kids! Holy cow. That would be insane. And I know cuz I came from a family of seven! Love the pic of you :)
That's great! We def. get a different perspective on things when we have kids and are a few years older! But you gotta love the dreams!
Totally loved this flashback -awesome! I Could so see myself writing the same things as a 15 year old! Imagine 5 Gracie/annelie's lol -lots of adventure! Very brave of you to post this. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it. And come on, we're all waiting for your published book...
That is fantastic! I am so glad you shared this. And kudos to the teacher who actually got around to sending it to you, I am lucky if I get my bills in the mail in time!
This is so cool. I wish I had written myself a letter!
Yep. That was pretty awesome :)
I love how much faith you had in science happening so quickly! (designer babies) But then, you also thought you would have a couple of books out and a couple of of kids. : ) It sounds like you thought 7 years was a lot longer than it actually turned out to be. ^_^
(And Gracie and Annelie thank you for their names ; )
You are so one of my most favorite peoples on the planet. How cute were you?? I'm fairly certain we would've been Besties should we have met 8 years or so ago. And I loved The Client, too. Which solidifies it.
This is great! Have you been to Kelly Polark's blog? She has a middle school diary entry up today. You two have taken me back! :) Thanks for sharing!
THat is awesome!!! And how cool that you wrote four pages to laugh at later!
At my ten year high school reunion, we were given letters that we wrote to ourselves. Mine was way too short. I wish I had taken the assignment seriously. In the letter, I was though hoping I weighed the same which was shallow of me. I didn't as I had just had my first child a month before the reunion. :)
loved this! I can't believe your teacher actually mailed it back to you after eight years!
Post a Comment