13 January 2011

Dear Me

Dear Me,

This is me, your older, wiser self. Okay. Not really wiser, but definitely older. And likely wiser than you are right now. My wise and witty friend Juls got me thinking about what I would say to my 20 year old self (so you have her to thank for this little tidbit). She would tell herself to accept all offers of maid service. (I know that even my 20 year old self would have jumped at that chance!)

So what would I have to tell you that you are wrong about even though you think you already know?

If you are at Bruiser's night club sweating it up on the dance floor and two slick talkin' dudes approach you and say you have great hair, see through that veiled attempt at flattery because it will NOT get you anywhere good.

And if they do praise your mighty fine locks, do NOT let them talk you into becoming a hair model for the local podunk hair show at the tired old Holiday Inn.

And if you are so gullible that you take them up on the offer to become the next great hair model, do NOT take their super-serious attempt at showing you how to do a runway walk down the indoor mini-golf putting range without laughing wildly about it. Out. Loud.

But if you do still drink whatever grape Kool-Aid they are serving you to get you to do said hair modeling, do NOT allow them to put you on stage without the aid of mirrors while they transform your head with four diverse shades (blond, red, black, brown - like a veritable United Nations of hair dye).

And do NOT believe them when they tell you it is gah-jous , like a pile of fall leaves. Um. No. It is not.

And for God's sake, if you don't heed my advice, do NOT go home and raid your mother's stash of Nice And Easy Dark Brown Espresso on the Double (two boxes, thank you very much) where you will end up with a deep auburn shade. Because you will hear sniggering from your dad, and "I told you so" from your mom.

And if you get this far, by all means do NOT allow a picture of this fiasco to be taken.

{NOT me... but this is the idea of what they did to me! But lots more chunks all over my head and my hair was shorter than this at the time!}

Oh, good. At least you listened to that last bit of advice.

;-)

Love,
Me

What one thing would you go back and warn your 20-year-old self against? Do tell!

18 comments:

Unknown said...

Humm still thinking about this one. I have a few things I should have done but.....then where would I be now?

Hug

mairedodd said...

that people who care about you do not want you to be someone else...
xo

AuntieAnnie said...

I absolutely love the hair - at least my 62 self smiles when I see it. I would be telling my 20 year old self not to be so serious, to have more fun, and to reach in to the core of my being and ask myself how am I feeling and what do I want?

SummersStudio said...

Giggling...There are a lot of things about my early 20s that I'd rather not go back to. But then they were part of maturing into somebody that I like most of the time.

ClickNCamera said...

Hair perms are not my friend! At least I learned from my mistake, I'm happy to say.

Cindy said...

Oh Erin what a hair story! I'm sure can't top that one! :-) I've been thinking about youth a lot lately because all of the sudden it hit me this past year that everyone seems so much younger now. It used to be the other way around. My 20's were really so much fun. I do wish I traveled more every moment I could before having kids. It is hard to appreciate that type of spontaneous freedom until your life changes - and you have 4 kids! :-)

Heidi Post said...

I used to be a hair model in college. I had some pretty crazy things done, but I thought it was great. As for what I'd warn myself about -- I'd rather not mention those things in public ;)

Erin S said...

I had a platinum blonde stripe on one side of my head in college. I did it myself. I actually liked mine though. Rebellious without being too ridiculous. If I only had a time machine, I would give myself a lot of advise about men. In a nutshell--if they cheat, just get out now and save your dignity.

Chris Phillips said...

I'd tell me to start writing sooner and not to take the last teaching job I took.

Chris Phillips said...

I would tell me not to take the last teaching job I took.

Rebecca said...

Hmmmm...this post is timely for me as I turn 3.0. in a matter of months...three months....and I'm trying not to think about it! I jut don't know what I'd tell myself...I've made so many mistakes, big and small in my little life but I'm pretty sure that me at twenty wouldn't listen to one thing I had to say!!!

lunedreams said...

Boy, I'm not sure I could have told myself anything. I wouldn't have listened. You kind of have to learn it the hard way. But if I could have planted a seed, I would have told myself that I was not a lesser being who was born to subsist off crumbs of love and happiness, but that I was entitled to sit and dine at the table of life with everyone else. (I had issues.)

lunedreams said...

p.s., i'm glad no one deterred you from your hair model adventure, because i love a good "most embarrassing moment" story! we've all been there!

Anonymous said...

I modeled a hair cut for a salon on a morning talk show when I was 19. it wasn't anything crazy; i did that to my hair myself later on. but i loved experimenting with my hair then.

I would tell my 20 year old self to not be be so hard on myself. to relax more.

Pearl and Pebble said...

HeeHeee...yah, I'm not tellen what I would tell me! Been there with the hair though. I am so happy to know that I am not the only one who cringes remembering the "stupid years", aka the early 20's!!!!

Jenners said...

Oh my ... that is quite the do!!! I should have warned my past self about any and all experiments with hair dying and home perms!

Cathryn said...

Great Letter to yourself. I would have told myself to stay in school no matter what. Then I would have had a career to fall back on while I was looking for that perfect niche of mine.

Lisa Godfrey said...

LOL! That's so funny. My own advise to my 20 something self would have been; Do not get married at 23 -- too young and wrong guy! -- and for goodness sake, just because that super short pixie cut looks great on Carrie-Anne Moss in the Matrix doesn't mean it will look good on you! ;-)

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