Letter to my Senior Self

While my dad was cleaning out the basement today he came across an unopened envelope addressed to me, in my handwriting. Inside was a letter I wrote to myself in ninth grade English class to be sent to me and opened up my senior year of high school. I was surprised at how differently my life has turned out and now that I'm approaching my senior year of college, I thought I'd share a few excerpts of my insights as a 14 year old...along with some running commentary by me, 7 years later.

I wrote it on September 10, 2001 (yup, one day before 9/11...crazy).

At this stage in my life I have blond haiar. It's slowly getting darker from the roots out. I blow-dry it straight down and I clip back some of my bangs.

(Liz, shut up!) I hate changing my hair, for the record. But I wound up having to highlight it blond this past year because it got so dark!

I weigh about 105 pounds and I'm 5'3" tall...I try to dress comfortably instead of always wearing what is currently in style.

2 inches and 20 pounds later....and I definitely think about what I wear more these days.

I spend my time these days reading and spending time with my friends...I love to eat anything spicy. My favorite subjects in school are physics and gym.

Well, the first two sentences are still accurate. I loved gym, but I don't remember ever liking physics that much...

Much has happened in the past year to our world. George W. Bush is our new president and he is struggling to find ways to deal with our slumping economy. The Palestinians and Israelis are still at war. A young girl was struck by a car while trying to cross a busy street in my neighborhood. Over the summer, security cameras were installed in the hallways of PBHS.

Funny how some things don't change at all...


I have been thinking about my choice in friends and whether or not they are really the type of people that I should be hanging out with.

Wow. If I only knew how right I was back then.


I would love to some day become an astronomer and attend a top college like Harvard or Yale. By my senior year of high school I would like to have gotten straight A's on my report card at least five times.

God, I was a freaking dork! I'm a lot happier as a budding teacher than I think I would have been had I accomplished the goals I set for myself back then. I forgot that I didn't really get dead-set on teaching English until AP Language and Composition my junior year.


Those are the highlights, I guess. I think this is something I'd be interested in doing with my students in a few years. I'd probably make it a little less contrived...it reads like a fill-in-the-blanks sort of assignment.