If you could talk to your younger self, what would you say?

I guess I could have tried to get this picture straighter on my scanner. Oh well. Meet thirteen-year-old me. I was buzzing around on Facebook this morning and came upon the question above. If you could talk to your younger self, what would you say?

What a cool question.

Barring freaking myself out if I ran into me at the Under the Sea dance, I gave it some thought. What would I tell this younger me? Naturally the easiest things came first. You are done growing. This is it. You will never get any taller. You will not only grow out of that A cup, believe it or not, you will look back on your pretty B cups with a sigh. Your teeth will straighten out a little more, but you will never get braces. Your little sister will. Do not buy those bright school bus yellow pants and the matching shirt. Please, I beg you. Listen to that inner voice telling you no. Put them down and walk away. Good girl.

I would say, "You'll still have this same hairstyle in your 40's because that's what it wants to do naturally. You'll just learn to accept it and put down the curling iron. Stop trying to fight the curl and embrace it."

I'd tell her she hasn't met her future husband yet, but he knows her. He knows this very picture. When you cut your school pictures apart and shared them with friends and family, your older brother took his out of his wallet and showed it to this boy in homeroom. Years later, when you finally meet, he will describe your picture in startling detail, even though he only got a quick look at it. For that, and so many other excellent reasons, you'll choose him. He's going to make you very happy.

Of course I'd have to mention her secret writing. I'd encourage her to keep plugging away at it. Hopefully I can encourage her to pursue it seriously years earlier than she does.

I won't give away names or too many details. Why ruin the mystery and surprise? I won't tell her to stop imagining the little girls she'll have someday. Let her discover for herself how awesome it is to raise boys instead.

Then I think I'll throw her for a loop. Yep. I think I'll have to screw with her mind and tell this fussy eater there will come a time she's going to LOVE onions. She's going to want them on and in everything.

Wrap your head around that, kiddo!

Now, what would you tell your younger self, if you could?