A common school-age activities is writing a letter to one’s future self. An interesting activity. When writing you question if you will ever actually see the letter again, if it will mean anything to you in the future, and whether your grade will be good enough (if the activity is marked).
I wrote such a letter back in 2002 and want to share it with you, as well as my response to the letter. Note, the pictures are from my elementary school days except the family photo, I wanted to keep everything within the age range of the original letter.
Dear Emily Marie,
June, 21, 2002
I’m doing well in school this year. My teacher is Mr. B. I’m in grade five. There is 2 ½ more days of school. My favorite subject is language, because I love to read and write. My least favorite subject is math. Yuck! I can’t wait until summer.
I’ve been enjoying taking my brother to the park. We have been getting along great. I’m going to take him to the park again.
Lately I’ve been hanging out with Jessica, Caitlyn, Denise and Hillary in school. Out of school I hang with my family.
I have a few questions for you. They are: How are you? How’s your family?
Sincerely Emily
P.S. I heard about your grand dad. I feel sorry for you.
Dear little me,
Wow, I still write in the same blocky style as you! I like it. Easy to read. But I can see that you got bored after writing slowly for a whole 30 seconds. I do the same. Then it’s time for more random styles like the second half of your letter.
Holy cow, my favorite subjects is an interesting topic because just this year my jobs changed all that! It is true, I still love reading and writing and I thought whatever career I took would involve those things. But I also learned that I like how math can be used, there is just so much it can do! I worked both a math job and a reading/writing based job and the math one was my favorite by a long shot! So sorry little me…but the math is here to stay!
How interesting, I literally wrote about our little brother and his autism just last week. Thanks for writing about taking him to the park, I know how important that is to you! It was always so difficult to connect with him when we were kids. He would get confused by something I did and I would be confused by his negative response. Quality time with him was hard to come by, and I am so grateful you captured this time in your letter.
As for friends, well I am glad you mentioned them too. These are the outcast group I would hang out with in elementary school but unfortunately I do not have contact with many of them anymore. Just Cait. I hope they all still keep their quirks, I know Cait rocks hers!
Now onto your questions. I am doing very well. I am nearly done school (thank gosh!) and have just cleared up some health problems (and no, not bronchitis little me, you got rid of that problem years ago). As for my family, well it has changed a lot since your letter. Mom and dad split up a while ago now. That was hard. But dad met a nice woman and now I have a step-family in the mix with lots of extra brothers and sisters (even a baby niece!). As for mom, she and gran are living it up in a nice new house but don’t worry, they have our little brother and some kitties to keep them company! A shock for you is that I moved away from the family, all the way to Ottawa. But that is a topic for another day.
P.S. Losing papa (grand dad) was hard for you, but unfortunately we also lost grandpa several years after that. Both gramma and grannie are still here though and I will be sure to talk to them soon to remind them how much we love them! Plus, mom found her birth parents so there is technically another set of grandparents which you probably couldn’t imagine at your young age!
Thanks for the letter little Emily and I wish future Emily all the best!
