#4

May 3, 2015

Hey!

     Sorry it's been a while, but life is pretty busy. I'm sure you guys will come to realize that there are always things that need to be done and it's pretty hectic. Anyway, that's not what this letter is about. This letter is about feeling left out. If I have a son, this analogy is probably not the best one, but if I have a daughter, I think this will for sure help you out later in life. And, son, keep reading because it's something you should now.

     There's always going to be things that you aren't going to get invited too. There's always going to be dances that nobody asks you to. There's always going to be parties that you can't go to even if you were invited. That is a part of life. But it sucks. In my case, there is the Military Ball next weekend and no one asked me. It's probably a little different for you guys--the whole dances and balls things--but it's still the same feeling. All of my friends are going (besides one, but I'll get to that point) and I really want to go. Also, your Uncle Jack is performing (Crack Drill, ask me about it or google it) at it and I want to see it because it is the last time he is ever going to do it because he's a senior. In my mind, I have more of right to be there then any body else really. But I was the one who didn't get asked. And it sucks.

     But there's a silver lining, I guess. Isabella, who didn't get asked because she was going to be out of town, invited me to go with her. So I'm not going to sit at home and feel sorry for myself which is probably a good thing.

     What I'm trying to tell you is that if that ever happens to you, or whenever you feel left it out, it's probably not because of who you are, and if it is because of who you are (which it won't be) then you are hanging out with the wrong people. When it happens, don't take it personally, although that can be hard (trust me I know). Just do something else that will make you happy. And, in the end, make the people who didn't invite you or where mean to you regret that they didn't. It is not your problem that they didn't invite you or that they didn't want to hang out with you. It is their problem. So, make them regret it.

Love, 

Mom

#3

January 13, 2015

Hey there!

     It's me again. So this letter is about school. Great, I know. Well, you should still read it because it's important. 

     School. Homework. Tests. Studying. Now, I'm guessing those things will probably make you shudder. I know it sucks. Really, I know. I'm in the middle of finals week now and I'm writing this because if I studied another Spanish vocab word without speaking a little English I think I would have lost it. Luckily for my parents, your uncle Jack and I never really had a huge problem with homework or tests. We also studied and did our homework when we were little and my parents just grew to trust us that we would get done what we needed to get done. Of course, Jack would always put off his summer reading homework until the day before we started school again, but he always got it done. I'm not saying we didn't procrastinate. Because before my finals of freshmen year I literally cleaned the bathroom so I didn't have to study. And you should see Jack and I's bathroom. It was not pretty (it still isn't really). I've always said that if you didn't like your life in middle or high school or you didn't like the place you lived or whatever, college was your escape. So get good grades and get out of the place you despise. Life really does get better as you get older. High school is way better than middle school and sophomore year is way better than freshmen year, so I'm sure that it just goes up from here. Now, enjoying the present and living the life you have is a different topic that I have a lot to say too, so that'll have to be a different letter. However, working to get somewhere better in the future is not ignoring or not living the life you have now. I like to think of it this way: remember the past, live in the present, plan for the future. 

     This is basically a plea. Please just do your homework and study for your tests. I study my ass off and work very hard to get the grades I have, and I believe it will pay off. Grades are a part of your life for now, but they won't always be, okay? However, life isn't just about school. Do something fun, go to a party, make mistakes, wear a fun color (coming from the person who literally only wears black, grey, white, and the occasional red or dark blue). Do your homework and then go to a movie (if that's still cool...?) after your test the next day. Ace your math test and then come tell me and I'll take you shopping or for ice cream or something. Do we have a deal? Because really, that sounds like a good deal to me. 

Love, 

Mom

#2

December 4, 2014

Kiddos! 
     Do you hate me for calling you that? Sorry, but not really. I can call you anything I'd like, I'm your mom. I'm just going to jump into it. 
     Who you are has a lot to do with where you came from. It's true. It really does. I'll give you an example: Me.
     I was born on February 20, 1999. Let's just start with that date. I was born in February, the shorted month of the year in winter with snow (at least in Minnesota). I love the snow. A fact about me, coming from the month I was born in. My favorite numbers are 20 and 22, both because of me being born the 20, which has the number 2 in it, so that's where I got 22 from. During the year I was born, computers were just becoming a thing. We had a house computer in the basement for as long as I can remember for Callie and Max and we had the internet too. However, since I was born during the last part of the age where IPads and IPhones and the internet entertained all children, I spent a lot of time playing board games, reading books, playing outside with Jack, swimming during the summer, and sledding during the winter. In 6th grade, I got an IPod Touch, which is when I started using the internet all the time. That means I had about eleven years where I lived without huge forms of technology. I hope that I raised you to know that you could have fun without technology. That life is more than the internet. Life is about the relationships you have with people and what you do with those people. Life is about making memories. I hope I raised you to be a nice, kind person who isn't afraid to go outside and walk the dog (if we have a dog, which I hope we do). (Okay, so cross that last sentence out if I said anything about not getting a dog.) I hope you can have fun and make memories with friends without the Internet and a phone and a computer. Moving on.
    I went to St. Joseph's School in West St. Paul, Minnesota. I spent seven years at that school, and I could have spent two more. In seventh grade, I started a new school. Visitation. Vis is an all girls school and I'm almost positive that it is still up and running now, and I probably give money to it. Visitation has influenced me to the person I am right now as I sit on my bed in my hot pink bedroom writing this to you. I'm only a sophomore, but I have spent almost four years in that school and it has done me better and shaped me more than those seven years at St. Joes. St. Joes wasn't a bad school, in fact, it's great. But Vis is where I learned to become myself. I felt free to become myself and I did. By November of seventh grade, I had made my first best friends ever (as I write this two of them are still my best friends, Hannah and Audrey, have you heard me talk about them?). I went through a random phase (come ask me about it), and I'm sure you will go through it soon if you haven't already. In the beginning of eight grade, I became very good friends with a girl named Sam, who you for sure know, because we are going to move to Chicago together after high school. Also, in eight grade, I met Molly. I hope you know who Molly is. If you've never met her, I hope you have heard me talk about her and talk to her on the phone. (Molly wants to go to school in Montana and I want to go to school in Chicago. We're going to separate at some point, but I hope we stay close.) Molly and I become best friends. We balanced each other out. I was very organized and I needed to know all the details all the time, and she was more of a go-with-the-flow person. She taught me how to go with the flow, and I taught her that sometimes its good to be prepared. Molly and I celebrate our "anniversary" (long story, come and talk to me please) on March 15 every year. Our first one was March 15, 2013. I hope we still celebrate it. 
    In ninth grade, I met Lucy and Isabella.We became good friends. So, I had Molly, Lucy, and Isabella. And, then I had Sam, Audrey, and Hannah. During freshman year and the summer before sophomroe year, Sam and Molly became good friend. We met a girl named Lilly and we became good friends. So, currently, it's us six. Lucy, Isabella, Molly, Sam, Lilly, and Laura (me). There are more people who changed me and there is more stories to how I got these wonderful friends and how much I love them. But this letter is background mainly, so I'm stopping there.

Write soon,
Mom

#1

December 4, 2014

Hey Kids!

     It's your mom here in her fifteen-year-old (almost sixteen-year-old) form. Crazy right? I was once just like you. I don't know where we will be living. I don't know who your father is going to be. I don't know if I only get to see you on Monday, Wednesday, and every other weekend. I don't know if you're going to a private Catholic school like I did my entire life, or a public school. Maybe you went to my grade school, St. Joes. Probably not, because I swore that I was not going to live in Minnesota. If we're living in Minnesota, come talk to me before you finish this letter. I'm 100% positive I will give you very good reasons why we live in Minnesota. Maybe you're going to my all girls middle and high school, Visitation. If you haven't learned about Visitation, again come talk to me. This can wait until the end of this first letter, but come talk to me at some point. I put the date on the top of this letter because I think it will creep you out. Like 2014! What? You're so old, Mom! You wanna know what else will creep your out? I was born in the year 1999. True story. Anyway, I don't know what you're life is going to be like when you're reading this. Hell, I don't even know what my life is now.

     These letters are going to be crazy. They are everything that I wish my parents (your grandparents) would have written down for me. Speaking of your grandparents, I hope you know them. I hope you spend nights at their house and your grandpa makes you pancakes in the morning. Also, I hope you've been to Big Rice. I'm not going to explain this on here, but if you have questions let me know. Your grandparents are wonderful, wonderful people and if I'm half the parent to you that they were to me, you're going to turn out just fine. Trust me. These letters are coming from my 100% unedited brain. They are about who I am, what I want you to know, what you should now, what I need you to know. Everything. They will be crazy. They will be all over the place. But they are something you should read. Now, if you're a boy and you are anything like your Uncle Jack (my brother), you are going to hate reading. But please, just read it. Now, if you're a girl and you are anything like me, you're going to love it or hate it. I don't know, man. Sometimes I love reading; sometimes I hate it. These letters are posted on a blog, so you guys may not be the first ones to read it, but you guys are the only ones who get to fully understand it and ask me questions about it. You guys will know the answers and it will make sense to you. 

     This is just the beginning. This is the first letter of many. I'm going to write another one right after this and really get the ball rolling. I hope you guys are happy. And I hope you had a fantastic birthday.

Love, 

Mom