To the Girl in the Photograph

You haven't met me yet, but I have known you for quite a while now - a little over a decade to be exact. You were my favorite age. Even as a ten-year-old you knew exactly who you were. Don't worry, you haven't exactly changed through all these years, but you did have to grow up, perhaps sometimes a little unwillingly.

• Dance! Dance even when you think you look like an idiot. The chances are you probably do look like an idiot, but you will never feel freer.

• Read. Read anything you can get your hands on because there are no limits to knowledge. As Oscar Wilde once said; "There are no moral or immoral books. Books are either well written or badly written. That is all".

• And while on the subject of Oscar Wilde, know that he died in 1900 and that he isn't the same person as Stephen Fry, although there is an uncanny resemblance. I'm sorry that Madame Tussauds 1997 catalog with Fry posing next to the Wilde wax figure had you fooled, which brings me to my next point:

• If only your English had been good enough to translate the short paragraph under that image you would have figured it out by yourself. Trust me and study the language because you're going to want to read everything Stephen Fry will ever write.

• You will know what it feels to have heroes.

• I don't want to alarm you but you will be moving to another country. And although you won't even be able to locate this country on a map right now (it's right here), know that you will consider it your second home for seven extraordinary years. When you feel like you would give anything to be somewhere else, remember, this is a unique experience that will make you a cultured, understanding, and all together, a better human being.

• You don't have to believe in God. And that's ok. Now can you please tell that to your Religions teacher in sixth grade?

• You will soon learn that mothers are often right, except for the times when they are not (although don't ever let her know that).

• You don't actually want to be in International Relations - just a warning.
  

• Don't stop kissing your parents goodnight.

• On the morning of August 29, 2001, call your grandmother and tell her she will always be your favorite person in the world. Later in the afternoon when you ring her doorbell and she doesn't answer, do not enter the house.

Hang in there ten-year-old self, you're going to be ok.
And don't worry about the future, I'll do that for the both of us.