Advice to My Seventeen-Year Old Self

• Don't worry about being popular. What does that mean anyway?
• Use sunscreen.  Lots of sunscreen.  Your entire generation needs to know that having a tan does not equal happiness.
• YOU ARE NOT FAT!  I don't care what you think the mirror and scales say.  Teenage girls are too hard on themselves.
• Read more.  Talk on the phone less.  
• Appreciate your teachers.  Especially Mr. Reeves.  His influence will help chart your life.
• Your clothes look best when they are not too trendy and fit well.  You may regret wearing puffy sleeves and twisted beads, but you can never go wrong with a quality polo shirt or a string of pearls.
• I know you think you can't wait to go to college and leave what you consider to be a small world, but one day you will recognize what a rich and precious heritage you have.
• Hug your grandmothers.  Call them.  Write them letters.  Send them pictures.  Take lots of pictures of them.  Write down their stories.  When you buy your first video camera, take lots of footage of them.  Trust me.  You will wish you had more time with them.
• Go ahead and major in music.  Forget that psychology stuff.  You will never be able to completely walk away from your voice and be happy.

Homesick

I grew up at the base of this mountain not very far from where this photo was taken.  I love researching my family history, imagining what life was like 100 years ago or even 200 years ago.  My ancestors were already settled here when this area became a state in the 1790s.  My parents still live in the house they built here in 1966.  It's filled with creaky floors, several decades of paint colors, the pink ceramic tile bathroom of my childhood, and lots of wonderful memories.  I think I'm homesick.  Spring break's comin' soon, and I wanna go home.  I think there's a country song in there somewhere.