Dear Debbie,

In the grand scheme of things thirteen, junior high, and zits are sooo small. But those years help mold who you become. Concentrate on you and the journey you’re on, for it all goes by so fast. Give extra compassion and love to your mother, it is so hard losing a child, but hers is harder because no one told her the truth. Embrace your siblings for they are the people who’ve been a part of your voyage and you a part of theirs. Have fun with your father, because someday you will discover his childhood was vastly different and shockingly poor in comparison to the childhood he and your mother are giving you. Learn his lessons, revel in his insights, and listen one more time when he sings King Of The Road. Because one day he will be gone, and the song will mean so much more.

Enjoy the rest of your childhood, grow, expand, and love deeply. Embrace the diversity of experiences that are handed to you everyday. Enjoy Lenny while he is there because one day he will be gone and you’ll miss him thirty years later. Spend more time with Grampa because someday you will live far apart and the visits will be far spaced and random, and then he will be gone and your heart will mourn the loss profoundly.

Friends will come, friends will go, some will die, some will take some very odd journeys but they will always remain in your heart no matter where you step. Do not measure your friends by what they have or do for you, but by how they answer your heart. Value them not for the time they stick around, but for the paths they have traveled with you and stayed true. Measure your words and keep them sweet, because Karma is a bitch and life is too long for things to not come full circle. And don’t fail to say the things you want to say, just think them through to their impact first.

Buy a copy of the Desiderata and save it for the inspiration it has brought you through out the years. Ginger Taylor will draw you a beautiful Osterich, protect it before it disappears and you are full of regret. Don’t break your mother’s necklace, it was a precious thing to her.

Remember the things that happen to you, not for revenge but to give you empathy for the plight and sorrow of others. Absorb each moment and experience, grow with insight and grace.

Hold on to your joy of change for as long as you can; in adulthood, roots become important so enjoy the freedom of change.

And remember to put on more sunblock. Okay? The sun at Huntington, Balboa, and Morro Bay will come back to haunt you if you don’t. Also buy stock in Google, Microsoft, and B of A early.

Oh, and don’t start smoking that last time, kicking the habit will begin a terrible chain reaction that begins with twenty five pounds that never go away. Infact, just don’t start again after you quit the first time. Do not ever think thoughts that begin with, “I will never…” because honey never comes far too fast and often for you to say those words, no matter how well intended you are.

And finally like yourself because you are pretty damn special, no matter how many times you get beat up, made fun of, and called names. It’s all about the journey.

Love, me
Cele