If I could write a letter to me......

Back when you wanted hair like Taylor Swift & you hated to smile
with your teeth because of your braces.

As you grow up you find all of these things you wish you would have know way back when, and then you wish you could go back, sit down with younger you and tell all what you know now.

Dear Me at the great age of 16,

Right now you're just Miriam ; the girl with the braces, big eyes, and even bigger dreams.

Well here we go.....

1. High school goes so much faster than you think it's going now.

2. You are smarter than what you give yourself credit for. Yeah you end up failing your Algebra 2 final junior year, (you got a B for the yr grade) and maybe you don't get an amazing SAT score, but you get accepted to both colleges you applied to even though you are sure Mount Union doesn't want you. Freshman year at Slippery Rock University you made Deans List both semesters with a 3.6 & 3.8 QPA and you year long was a 3.7 avg. I guess you're doing okay.

3. I know how much you highly dislike your braces, but you don't get them off until January of senior year. I know how painful they are, but it's totally worth it. I wish you could see your perfectly straight teeth now.

4. Whatever you do, keep reading!

5. I want you to call or text Maggie and hang out. Give her a hug and ask her now why she calls you MTS, because you're going to lose her to a car accident. I'm not going to tell you when but it's soon. Having to watch a friend, who was one short year older than you with her whole life ahead, be buried is going  to change you. No one will ever see this coming

Delete Kenny Chesney's "Who You'd Be Today" off your iPod too.

6. Enjoy the fact that Augustus is shorter & weaker than you. At the present he is a good 6 inches taller and he can pick you up & carry you around.

7. Remember that time someone told you to think about getting a nose job someday? Well I know how much you hate your "schnoz" but a complete stranger is going to tell you you have a Streisand nose, (and she is a freaking LEGEND!) & you now have this friend who loves your nose as much as you hate it. And I'll quote Grandma Munnell circa 2005, "Barbra Streisand never got a nose job, so you are NOT getting one either!"

8.You don't end up getting picked for homecoming court. It's really not that big of a deal, and it def wasn't worth your tears.

9. Please wear sunscreen! Especially on that nose of yours.

10. You will get to New York City...eventually. You fall in love with it.

11.Start thanking Kozar & Ms. Fim for seeing something in you and drawing it out. Koz is going to tell you after the Plaza Suite in class performance that you have raw talent...feed off that. Also find out why you're being cast as the whore. ** Abigail in  The Crucible  & Blanche in Streetcar, I'm starting to sense a theme here.

12.Start living by the words "Rewards are on the inside while awards on the outside."

13.Just to let you know, at 19 you are cynical.

14. Please,Please,Please take off ALL  of your make up, wash your face, and put on moisturizer plus eye cream before bed!

15. You are going to meet him at work. You're 16 and he comes to your rescue by working for you the day of Doug & Erin's wedding. You both have so much in common and so you click. You are going to think something is starting since he is the older, more mature, sweet guy. You text each other, im, go out a few times, and you trust him. The silly teenage girl in you secretly & slyly takes a quick picture on your phone of your intertwined fingers the first time you hold hands. You're comfortable and so happy.  I'm sorry to inform you that he hurts you in the end, and you're going to cry a lot! The people you trust the most tell you it's going to happen but of course you don't listen. Maybe it's for the best. You are def not the same person you were when you first met and that's good. Believe me you've learned a lot about yourself through all of this. It has taken you this long to realize that perhaps you deserve better. Be proud of yourself for deleting him from your life. And while it's a loooooong way down the bend your broken heart will mend...eventually.

16.Wrap Christmas presents with Grandma Necastro. It's the only way you'll learn.

17. SMILE!

18. This one musical you discover called Wicked will change your life.

19. Run for senior class vice president. You just might be elected.

20. You are going to meet these awesome friends in college and they have the same interests as you! Who knew people like that existed?! After a year they are some of your best friends.

21.Theatre ends up taking over your life in more ways than your 'Theatre Arts Outstanding Student of the Year' self thought it would.

22. It will take you 19 years plus 1 year of college to figure out your life plan. Believe that it's going to happen & don't let anyone tell you it won't.

23. Keep writing.

24. Do not stop blasting music & singing along at the top of your lungs.

25. You are about to hit a pretty deep pot hole on the road of life, but you end up pulling yourself out, fixing yourself up & moving on.

       *Which leads me to my next statement

26. You are so much stronger than you think.

27. Invest in line exact black eyeliner. (You'll be quite glad you did)

28. Start being more confident in yourself. At present you really need it.

29. Believe. If you don't who else will?

30. College is going to give you some pretty amazing opportunities... seize them!

31.Enjoy summer days of doing nothing, because now you work a 12-4 Monday-Friday job.

32. Actually listen to Taylor Swift's lyrics.

33. Don't tune out Justin, Heather, and Angie. They know...to an extent.

34. Your present idol is someone named Sierra Boggess. You don't know who she is yet, but you will! You know what she told you?! "You are enough. You are so enough. It's unbelievable how enough you are." Now that you know, believe her & start living it!

35.Forget about the people who have said you aren't talented enough. They'll see....

36.That dream you're holding on to, don't let it go! IT WILL HAPPEN  and you're going to get to that place you most want to be. Just gotta get  your degree first.

37. Keep quoting everything and obsessing

38. Tell Mum & Dad you love them.

39. Keep wearing your sundresses & your huge sunglasses.

40.You're going to become a GodMummy and it's awesome.

41. One day you are going to meet Idina Menzel & Anthony Rapp on two different occasions. You will be awestruck. 

42. Work on that British accent of yours. It's going to come in handy for sure.

43. Get your ankles checked out.

44. Be as you are!

45. It's all ahead of you. 

Proof that you've completed the first chapter.