I wanted to write a big, personal letter to my self from fifteen years ago. Something about how great life gets, there's some wonderful surprises just around the corner, how things may feel rough now but just wait a few years. You know, all those lame things we tell ourselves we would tell ourselves if we had a chance.
If there was a chance to write a letter, it would actually probably sound more like this.
Dear Me,
I decided to not give you winning lotto numbers or anything that would actually be awesome, but here's a bunch of lame advice you'll need to learn along the way that'll actually make you good at being an adult.
Proceed with blah blah blah.
Sincerely,
30 Year Old You
That's lame.
Wait, I got it. I'll just write a letter to myself from a week ago, so I still get the wisdom of being 30 and the other perks of writing myself a letter in the past.
Dear Me,
Wednesday, June 6th. 19-30-33-48-59-PB27. This is not a cypher. You know what to do. Just take off work Wednesday. It'll stink.
Sincerely,
You in a week.
Well, that was selfish.
Besides, I'll never get a chance to read that in the past.
I got it.
Dear Me in Ten Years,
How's it going? How many kids you got now? Evie's what, twelve? I bet she's getting difficult as she's reaching the teenage years. Money is probably still tight, eh? Look, for what its worth, I know you've seen better days and you've probably seen worse days. You're 40 and you're feeling it. Maybe not. Hopefully, you started getting yourself in shape and never stopped - that was my goal at 30. If you weigh over 300 lbs right now, punch yourself in the face. Literally. No, harder. Because 20 year old me would be punching me in the face right now for letting him get so fat. So this time around, just do it if you didn't follow through with it.
Look, I don't have any winning lotto numbers - at least none that could be useful to you. I don't have anything you don't have, except a very clear memory of what is happening today, this week, at this time in your life. A time that, in ten years, is going to be a little fuzzy and mixed up with things that happened twelve years ago and eight years ago.
But here's the deal. If you look around at your life and feel like you've failed, the only way that would happen is if you look at your kids with regret and time missed because of work. You've really messed up if you look across the room at your wife and feel like you don't even know who she is anymore. So what if Back to the Future 2 lied to us and you don't have a flying car or a hoverboard or clothes that air-dried themselves? You've got a family that you love, right? Because if the answer is no, then you, sir, are not the man I want to be.
Things may get hard. But remember the words we read in High School from Ernest Hemingway - "A man may be defeated, but not destroyed." You're not destroyed if you're reading this. Hopefully, you're not defeated, either.
One question, though. Did Jack ever stop peeing in the floor?
Sincerely,
You
Ps. As you were writing this, Evie came walking up just to hug you. Your heart melted.
