Of all the ways we are all similar and all the ways we are different, we all seem to have one thing in common.

We have no idea where the time has gone.

You are suddenly in your last year of high school even though it feels like only a couple of years have passed.

I wrote this for your older sister when she was 17 and want to include it now for you. The cool thing is you already get this. It is interesting the way good older sibs raise the others too.

1. Life is a mirror and a window. You decide your part in it, how the world sees you and what your reality is.

2. Feed your body, feed your mind, feed your soul, feed your life. Everyday. Everything else will follow.

3. Being nice is underrated.

4. Being nice is not the same thing as not saving something for yourself. Be fair,decent and human to all. Be very good to those who are good to you. Be good to yourself.

5. Say ‘yes’ to life.

6. It is better to be talked about than to talk about.

7. What people think of you is none of your business.

8. Don’t make assumptions about people.

9. Be kind, we are all struggling with something.

10. Don’t be small. Small thoughts and judgements crumble the spirit.

11. Have a beer on the pier. And jump in the sparkling lake.

12. Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.

13. Chicks before Dicks (I don’t love crude but it does rhyme). SOLID friends (both boys and girls) are critical. The boyfriends will come and go. The right boyfriend will fit in amongst your people and your life as you will his.

14. Everyday is practice for how you will be. The more you are something the more you will be something. Be conscious of this.

15. 90% of life is about showing up. Show up.

I learned much of this from you and from my highest calling; being your mom.

xo

I miss you already.