Color Crew!

When you say crayons, I think Color Crew.

I guess I just watched too much BabyFirst TV this summer.

(I was a nanny. But I used to make her watch Color Crew.

I really liked guessing what color was going to be picked.

Then I realized it was always the fourth one in.)

Dear Big Me,

I'm so excited for you to get a boyfriend in high school and to have a best friend and be popular. I hope you do your hair like Lizzie McGuire, and wear really cute clothes. Don't talk to ****** because she's a weird and you can be friends with ***** because she's prettier. I can't wait until you get your driver's license and you and your friends can drive everywhere and to your parties that you'll go to every weekend. But don't forget Jesus is your friend and He luvs u!!!!!!!!!

-Little Me

Dear Little Me,

When you grow up, you're going to hate life a little more. And I know you think it's unfair now, but just wait another 7ish years. And, you should have just asked mom for the Barbie Jeep. She wouldn't have been mad. I'm sorry to break it to you that you're not very popular and you don't have a boyfriend and Lizzie McGuire hair is really awkward now. BUT you do have friends and you love them. Things might get rough sometimes, but you know they're always there for you in the end.

Fight with your sister a little less. Stay out of her business, because news flash, you're not always right. And I know, she's a brat sometimes, but that won't change. Learn to be the bigger person even though you're the litter sister. And be a littler happier when she gets engaged, kay? 

Your favorite color will always be green, but I know you're going to say it's pink and yellow and orange and black because you're just tired of saying green. 

You still won't have your drivers license at 17. You'll learn about a little thing called anxiety, and realize that driving provokes it.

You won't get invited to parties, but you won't really care. To be honest, your life will be nothing how you imagined it, and you won't really care.

Jesus still loves you, but you stopped going to church.

You're going to have enough lamented Young Women's quotes to fill a room, but they will all stay tucked away in your "church purse" which you won't pick up after ninth grade. You'll get a lot of calls from people who are "worried about you" and "just checking in". Be a little nicer to them, kay? You will learn that they're not actually worried, and they just look at you like a check mark on an attendance sheet, but...it won't hurt you to be nice.

You're going to like him, and he's going to like her. And all the boys you like in high school won't like you back.

That boy you "fell in love with" in eighth grade? Yeah, you didn't fall in love. But your heart will still ache for him senior year.

If I could make you do something different, I'd make you talk more, and talk quieter, so people actually want to hear what you have to say.

Just be content with life, cause it doesn't change.

There will be a time when the unthinkable happens. I wish I could go into more detail, but it's still hard for me to think about. Be there for her more when she needs you, and less when she needs them. You'll be able to tell, just look a little harder. Sometimes you'll think she's not there for you...she is. She just has a funny way of showing it sometimes.

I'm sorry, this doesn't make much sense, but you'll find your ability to accurately describe how you feel gets worse and worse each year.

I hope you still love me.

-Big Me

P.S. One day he'll stop playing his guitar. Please appreciate it now. Please don't ever forget. And, it's okay to cry when he says he "can't remember how to play". Cry long and hard.