(no subject)

[xaara]

I just found a diary entry from January 1, 1997. Over ten years ago.

Transcribed, complete with spelling errors and questionable grammar:

Wedsday (is that spelled right?) January 1, 1997

Happy New Years! In october 22, 1996, I turned 9. I am 4'11" tall and wear size 4 1/2 shoes. I am in the fourth grade and my teacher is Mr. Brown. (He's really mean but I can't tell my mom.) My hobby is electric trains and I have a huge set of them. My interests are swimming (definnetly not diving.) (Diving makes my stomach go around.) History, Math, Science, Writing, Reading, and P.E.

I wish I could have met myself when I was a child. You know? Wouldn't it be cool if you could do that?

Don't eat at Taco Bell in December of 1999, I would tell myself. It will result in your forever associating Stevenson's Kidnapped with stomach pain so severe you'll think you're dying.

Get to know your grandfather. He won't live forever, and when he dies, you'll always wish you had talked to him while you could.

Value every single second of happiness, every single one. Sometimes they'll be all you have to hang on to.

Learn from your mother, and let her go. Talk to your father before it gets awkward. Realize that you will never find stronger or more complex relationships than the ones you have with your siblings. Don't taunt your sister; you'll grow to love her so much that she and your brother are literally the only two people you can imagine killing for.

Keep smiling, kiddo. Keep smiling.

Comments

[lady-of-winter.livejournal.com]

Even I'd like to meet myself and I'm technically still a child.

Oh, the instances.

[xaara.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it be interesting? What would you tell yourself?

I wonder what I don't remember, or whether what I do remember is really only a vague shadow of what happened. Or whether what I remember from being a young child is more accurate, since I didn't feel societal pressures as keenly then.

I suppose I'm technically a grown-up, but I don't feel it. Or I think, subconsciously, that there should have been a point at which my mother took me aside and said, "Carmen, you're a grown-up now and are expected to behave as one." It's a weird transition; you're not sure it's happened until it's over.

[lady-of-winter.livejournal.com]

I'd tell myself not to be afraid to take risks, and to look ahead to the future while not losing sight of myself.

Or something like that. I don't claim to be particularly wise yet. :P

I think that we truly saw things, if not more clearly, more fundamentally-- without all of the things that society has taught us to judge, or other predisposed filters to view things through, at least.

It's a transition, as it is, but I think it's only complete once you've made that transition while still having retained parts of your childhood or adolescence. Does that make sense? I wouldn't know, although I'm pushed slightly prematurely to the edge of that transition's beginning. -wince-

Yay, Carmen! You always write things that make me think. And I need to do thinking these days. ♥

[miliani-2000.livejournal.com]

'Cause dude, you were totally mean to me when you and Nick had your "No Lina Allowed" meetings. I was also rather annoying, huh?

Oh, childhood. What a great thing. And mine's not even over yet. :)