Dear me,

I’ll speak first to my fifth grade self,

I say to you now and here,

I know the pain of the words they speak,

But while it may sting now for your heart,

A promise is what I can offer you,

One that says one day you will be okay,

That the things they tease,

Help you to stretch to the sky,

Up to the ball over your head in the clouds,

And helps you to balance your dance. 

 

Now for my sweet, naive seventh grade me,

Do not worry about their words as it will pass,

And the battles you fight can only help,

For they will reveal your true friends,

And do not fear the falling of your heart,

You will fall anyways so. 

 

My young freshman self,

I realize now how dark the tunnel is,

The difficulty to see the light at the end,

But to you I tell,

Just keep running,

There will be arms to catch your tired body,

To show you the end of this everlasting night. 

 

Lastly I turn to you, my junior,

I was you only one short year ago,

Scared of your reflection you see in the mirror,

Tired of your own thoughts in your mind,

Afraid of what they will think,

What they will say,

But I will advise you to not be,

For they will love you for who you are inside,

And that one tiny piece of you won’t change their minds. 

 

Now to one and all of you I say,

Go on and be your crazy, turtle loving self.

Each of your troubles,

Your pains and problems,

Your falls and breaks,

Your nightmares and dreams,

They made me who I am today.

So don’t change for ANYONE,

YOU are NOT the one who needs fixing. 

 

Love always,

Your senior self