Slick Wisdom for the Young You
Jun 22nd 2008
Nicole JordanWhen Goddesses Fall To Earth
Last week I found another interesting article in Parade Magazine entitled “Advice to the Young Me,” which asked celebrities what they would tell younger versions of themselves if they could go back in time and share what they’d learned over the years. Perhaps with their public images and good PR in mind, most of the respondents gave replies that were sugary sweet, such as “be all you can be.”
I can think of a lot of sappy advice I could give myself, but since I’m not feeling sappy just now, I decided to offer the Young Me some slick wisdom I could actually put to good use. Here are some of the top things I would tell my younger self:
- The “last house” you buy won’t actually be the last house you buy. You can save a lot of time and expense if you know you’ll have at least three last houses.
- For your first computer, buy an IBM compatible instead of Apple so all of your early electronic manuscripts would still be readable now.
- Never trust your local auto services to know anything about how to install an electrical system in your SUV to pull a horse trailer.
- Don’t always save your nice clothes for nice occasions. By the time you get a chance to wear your fancy outfits, you’ll have outgrown them.
- Be nicer to your bro and sis when you’re a kid, so you’ll be closer to them when you’re an adult and you can play with their grown-up toys.
- Discover the joys of Comet Bathroom Cleaner and Dawn Power Dissolver sooner. It’ll save you lots of hours scrubbing bathtub rings and fish grills.
- Switch to expanded cable with Showtime a year earlier, so you don’t miss Season 5 of Stargate SG-1.
- Like Goddess Donna said in a blog comment the other day, be sure to buy LOTS of Microsoft stock. And do NOT buy some of the stocks that proved to be dogs.
- And finally… find a good hair stylist twenty years sooner, so you won’t look so much like Mom as you get older.
Too bad we can’t really go back in time. If we could, we’d probably be rich – or at least we’d have saved ourselves a lot of grief!
Knowing what you know now, what would you tell your younger self, whether it’s sappy or slick?
61 Comments »
61 Responses to “Slick Wisdom for the Young You”
evlqn on 23 Jun 2008 at 12:52 am #
If I could go back I would tell me : When someone says lets have a Buffalo party, I should say no thanks I plan on mending some fences with someone.
When I have the chance to go to college on a partial scholarship DON’T blow it!
Take those photography classes you wanted even though everyone said you couldn’t make any money at it.
Insist my husband ask his uncle for a loan to buy that four unit apartment building on the beach for $24,000. At last hearing it went for 2million.
Refuse to liquidate my stock portfolio because we could always get it back. Microsoft was in it.
Cut my losses with DH#2 14 years before I did.
And keep dancing!!
Kathy/Cookie on 23 Jun 2008 at 5:34 am #
I would go back to 15 yr old Kathy and tell her she wasn’t fat at 5′6″& 135 lbs!
Take the nanny job in 1987 with Pink Floyd’s personal manager’s family and go on the world tour with them. arghaghghghg!
Stay on track with University…”apply again next year” means just that, dumb dumb. I’d be the director of a daycare or a preschool teacher by now.
Michelle B. on 23 Jun 2008 at 6:27 am #
As sappy as it sounds, I wouldn’t change a thing. Even the bad stuff shaped who I am today. I feel very fortunate and always say the best is yet to come. As Garth Brooks sang, “I’m glad I didn’t know the way it all would go…wouldn’t miss the Dance.”
Lisa H on 23 Jun 2008 at 6:31 am #
I’d say,
play with the bad boys, but don’t fall in love with them.
Don’t gain so much with each pregnancy.
Start writing at age 20.
Put in granite countertops.
Michelle B. on 23 Jun 2008 at 6:31 am #
There is one thing I would change. I would have the 19 year old me insist my Mom go to the Doctor, but that would have required that I knew there was a problem then. She had a radical mastectomy when I was 21, she was 41. She died of cancer at the age of 52.
Freedom Writer on 23 Jun 2008 at 7:19 am #
I would tell the younger me to not give in to the pressures and opinions of your mother and in-laws who say that writing and taking care of the kids is not enough to make me a worthwhile individual. Stay home with your kids so they won’t feel abandoned when you go to work full time, and write your brains out.
Live more simply, you don’t really need all the Stuff.
Kathy/Cookie on 23 Jun 2008 at 7:19 am #
oh! Michelle B!
My mom had breast cancer too, and my eldest sister is undergoing treatment now at age 58.
My mom had a radical mastectomy too, but only on her left side, but that wasn’t what ultimately killed her.
She had an aortic aneurysm that burst three years ago.
Karen Hawkins on 23 Jun 2008 at 8:19 am #
Guys, sorry to hear about the mastectomies and your losses. My grandmother had one, too, though she eventually lived to a grand old 80+ years of age. More needs to be done for cancer.
Things I’d change:
1. I’d listen more. To everyone.
2. I’d be more adventuresome.
3. I’d appreciate my family earlier.
4. I’d go to college in a different state so that I could accomplish #2 and #3 more quickly.
5. I’d refuse to get married until I was at LEAST 30 and not barely 22.
6. I wouldn’t have let other people tell me that I wasn’t ‘cut out’ to be a lawyer. I’d have been a darn fine one.
7. I’d savor my time with my kids more.
8. I’d get a Mac years earlier and avoid losing so many manuscripts to unexplained computer crashes.
Jessie on 23 Jun 2008 at 8:30 am #
They used to do a thing like that in Seventeen magazine–have celebrities write a letter filled with advice to themselves at 17. The letters were both sappy and slick. I wish they still did that…
Advice to myself:
1. Apply to more colleges. I shouldn’t have limited myself to only the one.
2. Don’t tell my boyfriend that I could marry him when I’m too young/too immature to make that decision. It only ended up hurting him later. Also, being honest is hard, especially when you’re saying something the other person doesn’t want to hear, but people don’t end up as hurt in the end.
3. Don’t quit soccer in the middle of high school.
That’s about all for now. Ask me 10 or 20 years from now, and I’ll probably have more.
Kathy/Cookie on 23 Jun 2008 at 8:37 am #
completely off topic, kind of…. my youngest niece Sarah turns sweet 16 today, so I whipped her up a quick video for youtube.
Oh the advice we could give her ladies!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW75n1kvCCs
Claudia Dain on 23 Jun 2008 at 8:44 am #
Advice to the Young Me:
Enjoy that body while you have it!
Ask twice for your parents to let you pursue your masters degree.
Do not date Stroke #2!!
Color your hair sooner.
Wear your best clothes now. What are you saving them for?
Louisa Cornell on 23 Jun 2008 at 8:48 am #
My deepest sympathy on the cancer losses, ladies. That is such an insidious, unfair disease.
1. I would make my Dad have an arteriogram every six months after his first heart attack at age 48. Had they detected the problem before his second heart attack at 64 he would still be with us.
2. I would not have eaten my way up to 160 lbs after my DH died! That weight is hard to lose and it tends to attract friends as in MORE POUNDS!
3. I would have kept writing even after music became my thing. The break in my writing for about 30 years was time I could have spent completing books and learning my craft!
For the most part, however, I wouldn’t change much. I have had a lot of fun and seen the world and made some really great friends online and off!
Nicole Jordan on 23 Jun 2008 at 8:48 am #
Evqln, what’s a buffalo party? And where was that beach house?
Kathy/C, what a great b-day gift for your niece! You’re getting really great at creating those videos. If I ever need one, may I hire you?
Jessie, I think that Seventeen column sounds really cool? Wonder if any of the teen readers actually took any of the celebrities’ advice?
KarenH, I don’t know if I could picture you as a lawyer! Except that you’ve said before that you have a lot of energetic political discussions with your dh, etc. So maybe you do have the temperment after all!
And I agree with Louisa and K-Ha… my heartfelt condolences on your losses, ladies. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could change Fate for the people we love…. and maybe even for the people we don’t love?
ct009ct on 23 Jun 2008 at 9:07 am #
Mine is also weight related!!
At 5′4″ and 135 lbs in my twenties and early thirties (with what my husband calls my guitar shaped figure), I wasted way to much time worrying about how FAT I was. I’d love to go back, slap myself and say
“Girl, you DON’T know what FAT is!!!!!”
Cathy
elsiehogarth on 23 Jun 2008 at 9:11 am #
If I could go back….I would change my major from Economics to Archealogist/Egyptologist, never married the ex but would still would have kept on looking and I would definitely have taken a notebook to write not only all those wonderful stories my Grandparents use to tell me but I would have written all my Grandmother’s recipes.
Kari on 23 Jun 2008 at 9:12 am #
Oh Lordy, where to begin…
-Don’t get lazy
-Don’t be so quick to say yes
-Take pictures!!! Of everything!
-Learn from your mistakes not just live them. (and others)
-Go to college
-DON’T take a year off before you go to college-You’ll never go
Kathy, our family went through the death of a loved one, FIL, by an abdominal aortic aneurysm. It was so quick. He was the funniest man with the most amazing blue eyes you’d hope to meet.
With that said, I would tell myself that you aren’t going to like everyone in your family but you willl love them. Take the time to make sure they know that.
Ellen on 23 Jun 2008 at 9:25 am #
Learn that putting the seat down is part of the process. It will save you a lot of surprise bottom baths in the middle of the night.
Learn to fake it with DH. I don’t mean that way…I mean, every once in a while tell him that he was right. (as if)
Treat your Mom like she might be gone some day…some day she will be.
If you weigh less than 140lbs you are not fat and do NOT need to starve yourself. It will only mess up your metabolism and make dieting imperative.
Take a course in creative cussing. You’ll need it during the “Age of the SUV.”
SheridanLA on 23 Jun 2008 at 9:29 am #
I am with Michelle B..Though there are things I wish I had not gone through or done.. each of those tings taught me something… no being Pollyanna.. it is the truth.. I really enjoy my life now and I would not have the mindset I have not without going through all those things. That being said, here are a few..
Always say “I love you” to those you love and say it often, you never know when they will be gone.
When you see a “little red flag(s)” in a relationship, pay attention.. don’t ignore it (them) or think it (they) will go away. It (they) won’t.
Michelle, Kathy, Karen.. my condolences and I will add your moms to my “walking for..” list on the 3 Day.
Kim on 23 Jun 2008 at 9:29 am #
Oh boy, great topic, Nicole.
Be true to yourself, don’t try to be what you think people want.
You’ll never make everyone happy so just try to make yourself happy.
Have a backbone. AND use it.
Keep all those old cars, they could pay for your son’s education in the future!
Kay on 23 Jun 2008 at 9:43 am #
Michelle, Kathe & Karen, I’m so sorry.
Nicole, what a great topic. Some mistakes I’m glad I made because of what I learned from them I don’t think I would have learned any other way.
As for the other:
NEVER pass up an opportunity to travel.
Take out the loans & GO AWAY TO COLLEGE— don’t try to work so much during college–it’s hard to do both well and college is what suffers.
Stay away from a certain guy. Oh, to redo that part of my life!
Read more.
Still working on that one.
Start writing sooner.
cail on 23 Jun 2008 at 10:08 am #
i don’t really know of much that i’d change.
maybe i would have told myself to major in something useful for my undergrad degree.
sorry for your losses girls!
Julia London on 23 Jun 2008 at 10:28 am #
Funny, I actually gave some (solicited) advice to a high school graduate the other day. I said two things — WEAR SUNSCREEN! WEAR IT! WEAR IT EVERY DAY!!
And I told her to never fear going places and trying things, because you will always find your way home. The world is so small now, its possible to be a citizen of the planet and not just Texas. its possible to go off and live and do interesting things and still see your family quite often. I wish I’d gone farther afield when I was young and single and smoking hot (thats the way my memory is playing it these days, LOL). I hope this young woman takes that advice and experiences the world before she experiences domestic bliss in a suburb somewhere.
Nicole Jordan on 23 Jun 2008 at 10:37 am #
Re the weight/diet issue… I sure wish I had known a lot more about new diet science learnings way back when. Particularly that starvation actually makes your body store fat!
And there are so many things I wouldn’t change, even bad stuff, cause they led to good stuff. And yes, they did shape me as a person. That’s a cool philosophy… although there are lots of things I wish I hadn’t had to learn the hard way.
All this sound wisdom is excellent advice, goddesses! And I think my mom probably tried to tell me some of it when I was younger, except for sunscreen, which we knew nothing about back then. Did your moms ply you all with advice? Did you take it?
Kathy/Cookie on 23 Jun 2008 at 10:43 am #
sure you can hire me,Nicole.
I love doing them!
Julia London on 23 Jun 2008 at 10:46 am #
Oh, Nicole, when I think of the ways we tried to burn our skin to get that tan. Baby oil, even Crisco. I am paying for it now!
Michelle B. on 23 Jun 2008 at 10:47 am #
SheridanLA, thank you for adding my Mom to your “walking for…” list. Her name is Anita.
Sabrina Jeffries on 23 Jun 2008 at 11:13 am #
1) Do not cope with your son’s autism by eating. Find SOMETHING, anything else.
2) Do not let your parents talk you into not dancing for religious reasons.
3) Dance. A lot.
4) Eat soy. A lot.
5) Don’t bother to finish the Ph.D. It’s a waste of time. Start working as a tech writer earlier and start writing novels earlier, instead of piddling around with bad short stories.
6) Travel while you can. You never know what life will bring later.
Karen Hawkins on 23 Jun 2008 at 11:14 am #
Kathy, what a CUTE video! How nifty!
Trust me, Nicole, I could have been an awesome lawyer. No one enjoys a good debate more than I do!
Speaking of adventures and no regrets, Sheridan, how’s the training going?
Sheridan LA on 23 Jun 2008 at 11:23 am #
Karen. training is going well.. I have logged in about 140 miles walking so far.. this weekend sucked a bit, since we are having a lovely heat wave. I thought it was against city ordinance for LA to be over 72 degrees.. ugh. We cut the intended 12 miles down to 7.. then did another 6.5 on Sunday. even going out early, it was still hot.. and the new shoes are giving me blisters. Back to the shoe store for me!
Other then that, I am enjoying spending extra time with some friends on my team.. we have a few more that are planning to join.. and almost every walk, I meet someone else who has done the walk before, so that is kind of cool.
I found out that the wife of one of our clients that was here last week is one of the national spokespeople for the walk.. She will be at our walk in San Diego speaking. It was inspirational to hear what she had been through via her DH. Helps keep it in perspective.
thanks for asking.. the support from you all is awesome.
Janae on 23 Jun 2008 at 11:30 am #
I’d include some weight advice to myself – under 140lbs is not fat.
Take more creative classes in college.
Wear sunscreen every day, regardless of the weather conditions and re-apply.
Other than that I think there isn’t much that I’d change.
ct009ct on 23 Jun 2008 at 11:56 am #
Due to a typo, I was an inch taller in my twenties and early thirties. (a case of wishful thinking, maybe) I’m actually only 5′3″.
And you’re right (and philosophical) Nicole, we are who we are, due to the good and bad stuff.
And through the many, many, many years, I have learned to like me.(wish I would have learned that – way back when!!
Okay! That was my two cents worth.
PJ on 23 Jun 2008 at 11:58 am #
Sabrina, I had to lol at your “Eat Soy” advice. I’ve been doing a lot of that this past year on the advice of my heart nutritionist. I spent this morning at the doc’s office being tested for allergies (I’m always fighting them) and guess what I’m allergic to? Yep, SOYBEANS!
Lisa H on 23 Jun 2008 at 12:05 pm #
Karen H – Its not too late to become a lawyer…just please don’t stop writing hot and funny romances for all us goddesses. We will support your decision to go back to school…there are alot of horrible people who need to be prosecuted! Go get em!
Nicole Jordan on 23 Jun 2008 at 12:11 pm #
>>>>>Ellen
Learn that putting the seat down is part of the process. It will save you a lot of surprise bottom baths in the middle of the night.
That is too funny, Ellen. (So is faking it with your dh, lol.) But the toilet seat reminds me of a painful accident I wish I could have avoided. We were planning a lovely vacation at the beach with my dh’s daughters, and I packed but left my suitcase on the floor. When I got up in the middle of the night, I forgot it was there, and stubbed my little toe so hard, I broke it. Do you know how painful it is to try and walk on beach sand with a broken toe????
Yikes, PJ! That’s not good to be alergic to soy. Have you tried whey protein? I swear by that stuff. And it even better than giving me a protein fix, it keeps me from feeling hungry and from getting that 4 p.m. slump in the afternoons.
>>>>LisaH
Put in granite countertops.
Lisa, have you done that yet? Who did you use for a contractor? If we ever get around to remodelling our kitchen (like I said, this will be our third last house!) I hope to get granite.
Margaret Garland on 23 Jun 2008 at 12:14 pm #
Well, shoot, Kathy. The birthday salute to your niece gave me goosebumps and put tears in my eyes. How lovely.
As for the things we could tell her. I’m sorry to say, if she’s anything like the teens I know, she’d roll her eyes and tune us old fogies out.
Margaret Garland on 23 Jun 2008 at 12:28 pm #
A great topic, Nicole! You all just keep coming up with good topics for discussion. I’ll bet this isn’t what you envisioned when you decided to have an author’s blog. But I love it and love getting to know a bit about you all.
1. Don’t get married 11 days past your 18th birthday.
2. Choose college over marriage and stick with it!
3. Take journalism in spite of your mother thinking you can’t make a living at anything but bookkeeping.
4. Become a journalist.
5. Travel the world. You might not be able to some day. Do it even if you have to wait tables or slop hogs along the way.
6. Realize that 140 lbs in NOT fat. (like everybody else today)
7. Always say “I love you” just before hanging up the phone. (took years to do that one)
8. Don’t be a damned people pleaser.
9. Love yourself better.
dbrown3400 on 23 Jun 2008 at 12:59 pm #
I wish that I had done these things during the past that would have perhaps changed my future.
1. Realized that M&M Peanuts were not meant to be eaten by the pound.
2. Found a way to continue at Rice despite my mother’s lack of support even though I had a full tuition scholarship.
3. Understood that people pleasing is self defeating.
4. Not married my first husband.
>>>>ct009ct
And through the many, many, many years, I have learned to like me.(wish I would have learned that – way back when!!
Ain’t it the truth!
>>>>Margaret Garland
Always say “I love you” just before hanging up the phone.
That is one thing my daughters and I do and it’s wonderful.
Kathy/Cookie on 23 Jun 2008 at 1:26 pm #
PJ, I too am allergic to soy- among MANY other things.
About three yrs ago I worked in a household that was allergic to milk products, so they used soy everything.
I think my body took all it could handle before then of soy I did ingest, but WHAM! a few weeks there and my whole body was a massive itch machine. I have to stay away from all soy now.
Real butter- not cheap!
canola margerine- gross!
Kathy/Cookie on 23 Jun 2008 at 1:32 pm #
and thanks for the kind words on my videos.
at 5am, I woke up thinking it was her birthday and started humming tra lalalala tra lalala, happy birthday sweet sixteen….
(my dad sang it to me on my sweet sixteenth)
So I had to do it for her.
she loved it.
we all try to make the day extra special for her since her beloved nanny (my mom) died just before her birthday and we didn’t want the funeral on her day, so we planned it for the day before.
My- my mom has been on my mind quite a bit lately!
Paula on 23 Jun 2008 at 1:57 pm #
I would tell my younger self
– to appreciate family more and tell them ‘I Love you’more
– to enjoy my children( especially when they were younger) more
– to work harder at school and try to get better grades!
– like Margaret Not to be a people pleaser.
I also wish that I had spent more time with my dad ( he died 19 years ago)
and with my grandparents who have also passed away.
evlqn on 23 Jun 2008 at 2:16 pm #
Nicole, a Bufflo party is where you mix everclear with a bunch of other stuff in a trash can and drink it to oblivion.
The house was/is on Venice beach I lived 1/2 block from the sand. I knew what the surf was like by going to my gate and looking right.
PJ on 23 Jun 2008 at 2:19 pm #
Nicole, I haven’t tried the Whey but I will. Thanks!
Kathy, I’m allergic to many other things too. I’m going to give the allergy shots a try.
dBrown, Peanut M&M’s aren’t meant to be eaten by the pound? Are you sure???
PJ on 23 Jun 2008 at 2:23 pm #
Kathy, that video was terrific! What a special, from the heart, gift for your niece. I’m gonna have to learn how to do that.
Lisa H on 23 Jun 2008 at 2:59 pm #
No, I don’t have granite countertops. I have marble which looked beautiful until I cut a tomato on it a week after I had it and it left a mark. I also have marks from glasses of water that were left on it.
The people we bought it from (Home Depot) said if we sealed it we wouldn’t have any of these problems and we did seal it and low and behold, they lied. I went all the way to the top of Home Depot and no one would stand behind their mistake. Live and learn.
Margaret Garland on 23 Jun 2008 at 3:42 pm #
OMG, Kathy. One of my granddaughters was very close to her step-grandfather, my late DH. We knew he was dying and it was close. So, all his kids got to come be with him those last few days. He died on Oct 18. 3 days before Shannon’s 10th birthday. Like you, I chose to have the funeral on the 22nd instead of her birthday on the 21st so she wouldn’t have that memory. She’s 23 now and has only good memories of him.
Margaret Garland on 23 Jun 2008 at 3:44 pm #
evqn, a Buffalo party doesn’t sound the slightest bit tempting to me today. Of course, way when it might have been great. Altho…… Isn’t that how you came to wake up married?
Margaret Garland on 23 Jun 2008 at 3:47 pm #
ROTFLOL!!! I just re-read my list of things to tell my young self. I did NOT mean #6 the way it seems to read. I meant that everyone else had said the same thing before I did. Not that everybody else today is fat. *blush* Sakes alive!
6. that 140 lbs in NOT fat. (like everybody else today)
Karen Hawkins on 23 Jun 2008 at 3:56 pm #
Margaret, I like this one the best — 8. Don’t be a damned people pleaser.
Amen, sistah!
Sheridan, I’m so proud of you for taking the challenge and raising the money. People, if you haven’t donated to Sheridan’s walk yet, please do so! It’s for cancer, it’s for women, and Sheridan is walking 60 miles in three days! Isn’t that right, Sheridan? Can you post the link so people can pledge? Just do $10 or whatever you can. it’s such a great cause.
Another thing I want to do more of now . . . and wish I’d done more of then . . . volunteer work. I need to find a cause and really get involved. I thought I had one, but they were ‘eaten up with politics’ as my grandmother used to say. I hate to see volunteer organizations like that.
Sheridan LA on 23 Jun 2008 at 4:26 pm #
Thanks for the plug!
Yes, this is the 3 Day Walk for Breast Cancer benefiting the Susan G Komen for the Cure Foundation… The total route is 60 miles.. I am participating in the San Diego walk in November. I have a team of 6 women that are walking together (might soon be 9) and this walk expects around 3000-5000 walkers. You can donate here (THANK YOU!!)
http://08.the3day.org/goto/sheridanla08
if you are interested in participating yourself, let me know. I am happy to answer questions.. you can join our team if you like.. and no, you don’t have to be in the same city to be on a team together.
evlqn on 23 Jun 2008 at 4:28 pm #
Yes Margaret that is exactly how I woke up married, now you know why I would give it a miss this time around.
Have you noticed how much of our younger selves was defined by our weight? I was a size 9, how could that be fat??
but I was always being urged to lose weight. If I had a do over I ‘d them tell all to talk to me walking.
I am supposed to be finishing my packing to go back to Oregon on the train. I just spent 45 on the phone with my sister, our 10 year old will be going to the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow. He was mad last night and tried to karate chop our back door. It’s steel clad. The door won.
Have fun on TGB while I am in transit.
Meg on 23 Jun 2008 at 4:29 pm #
After reading all of these posts and thinking, the only thing that I would tell a younger me is this:
–When you get married, don’t wait to have children.
But then again, maybe it was for the best. I’ve always thought that things happen for a reason. Even if the reason sucks and we don’t want to hear it!
Nicole Jordan on 23 Jun 2008 at 4:43 pm #
Evlqn, my dh used to do that trash can thing with his fraternity, he tells me. Doesn’t appeal to me at all, lol. And yeah, a house on Venice beach would have been better than Microsoft stock. Have a great trip to Oregon! I’ve been wanting to take a trip there for a couple of years now, but haven’t found the time.
Thanks for the info about Home Depot, Lisa! They were one of the places I was going to look, but I think I’ll pass now.
Nicole Jordan on 23 Jun 2008 at 4:46 pm #
>>> You all just keep coming up with good topics for discussion. I’ll bet this isn’t what you envisioned when you decided to have an author’s blog. But I love it and love getting to know a bit about you all.
Actually, this is exactly what we hoped for, Margaret! But it’s the participants who make a blog great, not solely the authors. Y’all are the best!
Sheridan, that’s so cool about your Walk! Keep on truckin’, my dear.
TinaLouiseF on 23 Jun 2008 at 7:04 pm #
Things to tell myself:
1. Don’t use one credit card to pay another.
2. You only need 2 credit cards.
3. Should have found a bigger place to live while you could afford it.
4. I would tell the family reunion organizers to not to postpone it last year.
Mother would have gotten more out of her maternal uncle’s wife’s family reunion than I will Fourth of July weekend. The reunion would have been 4 months before she was sick or diagnoised with Pancreatic Cancer. Now it is 7 months since she passed.
ladydawgfan on 23 Jun 2008 at 7:55 pm #
Things I would have told my younger self:
1. Take the other college offer out of high school. You might just succeed and with less damage to your psyche.
2. Quit procrastinating already!! (this works for nowadays, too!)
3. Try out for freshman cheerleading in High school. They can’t laugh at you any more than they already do, and you might just surprise them (and you!)!
4. Some people you thought were your closest friends are not. I have their names and will give them to you.
5. Do NOT, under any circumstances, introduce your ex-sister-in-law to your brother. She starts out nice and then morphs into the psycho-bitch from hell 8 months after the vows. It all goes downhill from there.
6. Challenge injustice, especially when YOUR toes are being stomped on.
ladydawgfan on 23 Jun 2008 at 8:05 pm #
More advice for my younger self:
1. In college, turn down ALL credit offers except one, and keep that one hidden in a block of ground beef in the freezer for “emergencies.” Pay it off as soon as possible.
2. Do NOT take the apartment that smells like cigarette smoke. NASTY place to live!!
3. Stay out of the Plymouth dealership. You will be better off spending your insurance money on a Japanese name. Trust me on this!!!
4. When you are in Chicago in Sept. ‘99, the man with the commanding presence in the Signature Lounge in the Hancock tower IS Meistro Seiji Ozawa. Stop being so star struck and introduce yourself!!
5. When in NYC in Sept. 2000, take more photos of the WTC. It won’t be there much longer, and will be sorely missed.
Sabrina Jeffries on 23 Jun 2008 at 8:21 pm #
PJ, I’m terrified that I will discover I’m allergic to soy. It has really changed my eating habits, and if I can’t eat it anymore, I don’t know what I’ll do!
Louisa Cornell on 23 Jun 2008 at 8:56 pm #
Oh wow, ladydawgfan! Seiit Ozawa!! I would have been tongue tied too!! And I so agree with you on the WTC photos. I wish I had taken some.
Amen Margaret on learning to love yourself! Life is so much sweeter when you finally figure that out!
And I have lived the say “I love you.” thing. I thank God every day that I kissed my husband good bye that morning and that I said I love you when I did. Then I said I love you again when he called me right before he left the office. Those were the last words I spoke to him. Now I say it to all of my family and many of my friends. You just don’t know. I lost friends and family before my DH died and I always wondered if they knew I loved them. Now everyone gets “I love you’ed” to death. Even the dogs and cats!
Margaret Garland on 24 Jun 2008 at 7:15 am #
I can’t remember when I started saying “I love you”, Louisa. I think I did it first to see if my mother would say it back. It took her a few years, but she finally came around. It wasn’t that she didn’t love. She just had a hard time saying the words.
I know that telling your DH you loved him as the last thing you said to him is and will be a comfort to you. Even tho my DH died in a different way, it comforts me to know that he heard words of love as he was leaving.
One really good reason for saying “I love you” are because none of us know when the last time will be the last time.
Nicole Jordan on 24 Jun 2008 at 3:37 pm #
You’ve all made me think! I’m gonna try saying the “I love you” a lot more often now!
Kathy/Cookie on 25 Jun 2008 at 6:23 am #
Sabrina, if you WERE allerigc to soy, with all that you have already eaten, you’d be reacting already. I think you are safe!
I always tell the people in my life I love them; when I hang up the phone, a squishy hug for friends, snuggles with “my kids”