Dear Young Me,
I hope you are well. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you, I forgot what a kid you are. You are eighteen. And even though you don’t know this, you are very, very stupid.
But that’s okay. Stupidity isn’t all bad.
You have big ideas. I’m tempted to call them dreams. But then, they aren’t dreams. Dreams are ambitious things. You aren’t ambitious. You start a project, then peter out.
You’ve been told you’re lazy, and slow, and not good at things you do. But I’m writing to say that you are good enough.
If you remember nothing else I write, please remember that last sentence.
You once had a girlfriend tell you—and in one case, even her mother told you—that you were going nowhere. You believed them.
You’re watching friends get accepted into good colleges. They’ve set compasses for their lives. They are doing well for themselves. Everyone seems to be succeeding. Except you.
Take heart, Young Me. Your life is going to be full
of surprises. You don’t know it yet. You have no idea what’s around the corner. None. I get excited just thinking about it.
For example: you will meet a beautiful woman who knows how to make beautiful biscuits. You will marry, and you will be beautifully poor. So, so poor. And it will only make you happier.
Let’s see. What else? You’ll total a few trucks. You will have back surgery. And on one occasion, you will be lost in Toledo, Ohio, without a car.
And brace yourself for what I am about to say:
The Chicago Cubs will win a World Series.
I am dead serious about this. When this happens, you will shout at your television—even though you aren’t a Cubs fan. Even though your wife is asleep in the other room.
You will…