Friend Makin' Mondays -- Letter to Myself

So, if you'll recall my awesome Vlog post from last week that I got from Laura, who apparently got it from a blog called All the Weigh....it was apparently part of a series called "Friend Makin' Monday." 

Because I need yet another day-of-the-week blog post idea (no really! it keeps me blogging!), I think I'll play along again. 

Today's theme is "A Letter to my Future Self."  How interesting and appropriate! See, I'm working quietly on a blog post and project right now with the women in the Denton Women's Collective I've been meeting with for a couple of months now.  I've asked each girl to do 2 things: 1) take a current picture of yourself that you love, and write down 10 things you love about yourself, and 2) find a picture of yourself from middle school/early high school and write a letter to yourself at that time in your life (i.e., "Dear Middle-School Mandy...."). 

ALSO, one of my DayZero/101 in 1001 tasks is to write a letter to myself to be read when 1001 days have passed.  SO THIS IS PERFECT!

So here goes.

Dear Future Mandy,

Today is a Monday, and you're having a good morning so far.  Also, your hair looks kind of awesome, considering that you slept on it wet:

I just want to tell you a few things about your current life that I hope you are still recognizing and remembering in a few years:

• Right now you're approaching the end of what will be a 5 month break from theatre.  You've really enjoyed being at home with your husband and pup, reading books, watching baseball, and making your life well lived.  Performing is important to who you are as a person, but spending time with friends and family and time by yourself and for yourself is both good and necessary for your soul and your peace and happiness.  Don't forget that.  Nobody wants another 2009. 
• You are currently about 15 pounds from your goal weight.  But you care about that number less and less the more active you are and the more personal goals you reach (right now you're hoping to be ready for a 5k in September and possibly a 10k after that) and the happier you are with your life (see above re: taking breaks). Being a size __ is important to you as a personal goal, so I hope that you've reached that point by then, but more than anything I hope you are even more healthy and fit and happy than you are right this minute.

• Lately, you've been focusing on your husband and the people who are truly important to you in your life, rather than having a HUGE circle of "fringe friends."  I hope that, by the time 1001 days are over and you're reading this again, that you've continued to invest in the frienships that truly matter and that those friendships are even stronger.
• You've currently been deleting your devotional emails along with all the junk mail you receive overnight. STOP DOING THAT.  Remember how much happier and more peaceful you felt when you took a measely 10 or 15 minutes to read them while you drank your coffee?  Yeah. 

• You are 33 YEARS OLD right now. Holy. Freakin. Crap.  When I wrote you this letter, you were only 29.  Now, not only are you in a whole new decade, but you probably have children.  So let me just say these things:
• Do not let having children keep you from being healthy and fit (see above).
• Do not let having children keep you from having sex with your husband consistently.
• In that same vein, your husband is not another of your children.  He is your husband and your ally. 

I don't really have much else to say...I'm sure I'll think of other things along the way, but these seem to be pretty important. 

Above all, Future Mandy? I hope and pray that you are happy.  I hope that you're happy in your life and in your relationships and in your job and that you continue to recognize on a daily basis that, even when things seem shitty?  You're still doing pretty well for yourself as far as your life goes.  Don't ever stop finding the silver linings to your cloudy days, and if it helps? Keep blogging about them every Wednesday to remind yourself. 

Take lots of photos, write things down (or blog them...who are we kidding, nobody actually uses a pen and paper anymore), give hugs and tell people you love them, laugh a lot, and try to make someone else smile. 

You, Future Mandy -- are awesome.  I should know, because I, Present Mandy, am awesome.

Love,
You