Blog Challenge: Letter to My 16-year-old Self

Dear Cindy,
  Well, you're finally 16.  You've just come through one of the roughest emotional stages of your life, brought on by 3 major factors:  1. You started high school 6 months ago, and suffered through an emotional melt-down as all of your closest friends either went to another high school, or didn't have any classes with you at this one, which led to at least one of them accusing you of abandoning your old friends for newer, more 'popular' ones.  This hurt you to the core, and you came home and cried on more than one occasion.  2. The other traumatic event was learning how to drive...you were the 'guinea pig', as most oldest children are, and let's just say your relationship with your dad didn't improve much because of the experience.  And 3. You got stood up for your very first high school date, to Homecoming...he came and took you to the football game the night before, but was a no-show for the dance.
  But you're 16 now!  You got your license (after failing the first time, and your future children LOVE to bring that up!), and you've reconciled with your old friends and found several new ones that will prove to be keepers!  So here's my advice to you....keep up the good work!  High school is a fun place, and you'll make your own niche and be quite content.  Dances are NOT the be-all and end-all to having a fulfilling high school experience, so don't put so much emphasis on them! 
   Watch your attitude...you have a tendency at this age to think you're pretty funny, but you'll cross a line between being funny and being a smart-aleck....try a little harder to be respectful, especially toward teachers and your parents!
   I look back and admire your tenacity when it comes to running for office in student government...you did it because you were genuinely interested in helping, not to win a popularity contest, and you lost time and time again.  Ah, well, you finally won an office your senior year...let's not worry about the fact that you were the only one running for it!  You got it, and you were good at it.  You'll repeat this desire to help through this type of office when you spend who-know-how-many years working in various positions of the PTO at your kids' school!
  Finally...stop and think more often about what you have to offer the world.  You make friends easily, you are a decent student and a hard worker, but you never gave yourself much credit for that kind of thing.  I wish you had taken more care about your appearance...been brave enough to experiment with makeup and more fashionable clothing.  Corduroys and T-shirts were probably not the most flattering style for you.

You're a great kid, Cynthia Joan Gray!  Go out and take on the world!    Love, You(Me)