ten things i'd tell my high school sophomore self

happy thursday! this week's ten things thursday post actually comes from an assignment i was given in an online scrapbooking class about documenting stories that celebrate growth, change and evolution. for the layout i decided to write a letter (of sorts) to my high school sophmore self. and then decided that this would make a perfect ten things thursday post.

so this is my official picture from my sophomore year in high school. i was 16 years old.

and if i could, i've love the opportunity to be able to look this young lady in the eye and tell her a thing or two. if given the chance, i'd tell her that....

1. you already know it’s important to keep studying hard. just don’t stress too much about the bad grade you are going to get in advanced algebra, because in the long run that one D will not mean anything. i know you cannot believe it now, but yes, you will get one D on your high school transcript.

2. all those cliques and popularity “contests” you're worrying about don’t mean anything in the real world. so don’t stress about not being in “the group” or wonder why you’re not “in”. don’t doubt yourself and wonder why you’re not good enough. because i know for a fact that “miss likely to succeed” will end up selling cell phones in a booth at a mall and that that title will not make her any better or any more successful than you.

3. your life will not end because you have to ride the school bus to/from school even though it feels like you are going to die of embarrassment.

4. your parents really do know what they are doing when they give you an early curfew and have to be all in your business. and believe it or not you will be thankful for their rules one day because you will understand where they are coming from and you will realize that they are keeping you out of trouble.

5. when you get to college stay away from credit cards. far, far away.

6. falling in love does not mean that you have to fall sooo far in love that you loose yourself and who you are. you’ll learn this one the hard way and it will take you awhile, but you’ll eventually figure it out.

7. you would probably be better off taking spanish instead of french.

8. the two jobs that you will hate the most will also be the ones in which you learn your biggest life lessons – a waitress job at a seafood restaurant during college and a high school teaching job right out of college.

9. when you get out of college and in your 20s don’t be in such a rush to figure everything out and get to the next stage of your life. lighten up and enjoy the journey.

10. you should not take art history in college. this will be the one D on your college transcript.

boys and their grandpas

my boys and i paid a visit to my parents this weekend. they live about 2.5 hours away so we just went for one night - a quick visit but the boys and the grandparents had fun. good family time.

sometime on saturday after our arrival i snapped this photo of blake sitting in his grandpa's lap. i love how blake has his head on my dad's shoulder and is just so comfortable sitting right where he is. they are discussing the wonders of a recent hot wheels purchase and grandpa is trying to fix a piece that snapped off. an innocent moment captured because i happened to have my camara beside me and decided to pick it up.

then when i saw the image on my computer last night the first thing that popped into my head was a picture i have of my dad and his grandfather. another innocent, everyday moment between a boy and his grandfather captured with a camera. and now a special connection to my past perfectly linked to my present.....

three generations

recently i was going through some old family photos and decided to create a scrapbook album about my grandmother, my mom and me. this album celebrates the fact that the connections and relationships that define us as women really don’t change from one generation to the next. my grandmother was born in 1917, my mom in 1946, and me in 1970. and even though we are generations apart we have all been little girls, brides and first time mothers and we are all daughters, sisters, and wives.....my favorite part of this album is the photos and how powerful it is to see a picture of my grandmother as a first time mom right beside a similar picture of my mother and myself as first time mothers. you can see the passage of time in these photos. and even though our lives are very different and we as individuals are very different, the roles we play as women and the relationships we cherish the most are the same.

three generations of women...


...as little girls

...as sisters

...as high school graduates

...as brides

...as first time moms

...as mothers of two

...as wives