classroom notes #17: a note to my sixth-grade self

Dear sixth-grade self,

You know that boy you like, the one who lives down the street and who you played footsies with at school during reading lessons? Forget about him! Boys who look cute and know it are usually bad news. You may think you’re the biggest geek right now, with thick glasses, braces, bowl-cut hair and mismatched clothes, and your nose buried in books, but geek girls are awesome and it takes boys about 20 more years to discover that fact.

Don’t let the “cool” girls get you down just because you don’t have Guess jeans or Club Monaco tees. Trust me. Saturday morning cartoons are way cooler than 90210 or New Kids on the Block. Don’t get pushed on the playground. When your best friend ditches you for the new girl, hold your head up high, flip back your awesome bowl-cut hair, and talk to that other geek girl in the corner of the lunchroom.

In high school, peer pressure can be overwhelming. So what if you’re hanging out with the uncoolest kids in the school. They’re the fascinating ones, the ones with the most character, the ones who are not afraid to forge their own destinies with the brilliance of a million candles, unlike their 2-dimensional counterparts. Talking about Star Trek, Camus, and your rock collection; joining the physics club; writing an epic round-robin novel; going to lectures at UBC where you'll feel out of your element among the physics majors and their mumble jumbles of the tau particle, and where you'll meet Carol Shields; and attending all the Beckett plays in town will be infinitely more interesting than hanging out at the mall. Besides, you don't look good in mini skirts and baby tees.

When you turn 16, you’ll fall in love with a boy and you will be the one to break up with him even though you still love him. It won’t be happily ever after and you’ll have to learn how to let go, but please, please, please, don’t become one of those girls who cling like saran wrap. In fact, you should break-up with him sooner. There’s so much more to life than boys. Oh, and also stay away from boys who smoke since both the smokers you will date will turn out to be bad decisions (a lesson you will really learn the second time around). Go, explore, and fly for the distant horizon.

Walk your own path. Everyone may be going to uni, making grand career plans, and living the grown-up facade but enjoy this period of self-discovery rather than get hung up on everyone else’s lives. Live your own life even if it means graduating years behind all your peers. Go on those trips to Belize, Mongolia, and Kilimanjaro; go off the beaten path and discover the “invincible summer” within yourself. And remember,

Alcohol does not equal fun.
Saying ‘no’ doesn’t mean you’re a prude.
You will always be a geek so embrace it.
There is a hidden beauty in the early morn. Wake up for it.
There are many hidden corners in the world, go discover!
Dogs are really a girl’s best friend.
A woman’s intuition is always spot on.
Take your nose out of your book once in a while.
Take a chance and tell that tall golden boy you love him.
Take the road less traveled.

Until then, enjoy the long summer days because the next 20 years will go to plaid.

Love,
Your older, but not wiser self.

P.S. Don't panic. And remember to pack your towel.