Some friends of my kid have signed up for blogs at a popular blogspot for teens. Several of them e-mailed me, asking me to "be their friend". I did. It was kinda sweet. Their photos are so disguised as to be almost unrecognizable. I had to ask my daughter who was whom.
I told the kids I was now officially their "friend" and said we could now e-mail each other. "I don't really know what to write about," confessed one. "I just didn't have any other people to ask."
We all laughed. But it got me thinking.
I talked to very few grown-ups in high school. My mom was busy--six other kids, including a baby born when I was in 9th grade. She had a lot on her plate. I had no older female relatives I was close to. I loved my teachers, but I'm not sure I confided in them much. And the other grown-ups I worked with seemed as overwhelmed and confused by life as I was.
I wish I'd had someone to tell me stuff.
What do I wish someone had told ME in high school?
I wish they'd told me that when people said, "These are the best days of your life", that really meant "These are the best days of your life, IF you knew what I know NOW."
I wish they'd told me that sometimes even good friends say stupid things and do even stupider things. Sometimes it just means they are good friends with stupid moments, but sometimes it means they are not your friend. I wish they'd told me how to tell the difference.
I wish they'd told me that love can't really conquer all.
I wish someone had written the book HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU and given me, oh, three or four copies.
I wish they'd told me to believe in myself and my abilities a wee bit more.
I wish they'd told me that first love is every bit as powerful, and every bit as painful, as grown-up love.
I wish they'd told me that things DO get better. It may take awhile. But they do.
I wish they'd told me that you ALWAYS have options.
I wish they'd told me that people who don't take "no" for an answer are trying to control you.
I wish they'd told me a lot of things. But I wouldn't have heard them anyway.
But when I learned them for myself, I might have remembered that someone cared enough to try to tell me.
In fact, maybe someone did, and I just can't remember.
Maybe that's why I'm still alive and kickin' it today.
