Erica Danielle, This is from your former self open this ASAP! It will make you smile

Dear FutureMe, My goodness you are old. Three years away from thirty. You better have a very nice boyfriend/fiance/husband(?..oh my god you could be married right now!)..I hope you don't have kids yet, but I really hope you've got some dogs. What have you been up to? I hope you are doing a million things. Singing still, going dancing on the weekends, writing all the time. I hope you haven't given up theater. Even though you say sometimes that you don't miss it, you'll always love it. Don't give it up! I hope you still care about the world as much as you did in 2008. Did you ever dye your hair brownish red like you wanted to this past winter? If you haven't yet--stop being a pussy, give into the dye. On the other hand, you are lovely looking. Be happy with how you look. Stop pulling the skin on your hips back when you look in the mirror--be happy with how you've turned out! You look much better then you did when you were 13, 14, 15, oh if only the boys you grew up with could see you then..or now. I'm betting you still look pretty damn good so, be happy with yourself. You better still be a vegetarian. I'll forgive you if you're not a vegan. I don't think you will have forgotten but I'm going to remind you anyway: laughter is the answer to every problem. Smile at everyone. EVERYONE. Well no, maybe not the creepy men that stare at you when you walk through Boston Common. I really hope you've kicked your addiction to perez hilton and reading all the missed connections/personals on craigs list. And I hope to god you haven't actually stooped so low as to answer one. We know how the one time you did that turned out.. If you haven't stopped doing either of these things yet: STOP IT, STOP IT STOP IT. Right this instant..throw your computer out the window if need be. Where are you, by the way? Is there a window near you? God I hope you're not in an office building. I expected better from you if you are.. I know in 2014 she will be gone so I'm going to say something that I know will probably make you sad and perhaps cry but I can see you now with tears in the corner of your eyes and you're still smiling anyway: Tonight you talked to mom about a pair of boots you wanted from free people (that's how you found this site in the first place, remember?) and while you spoke you could hear Macie barking in the background. Remember how shrill her barks were? She wanted bones. Remember how sometimes she would lie on the top of the stairs and look down at you when you went into the cabinet to get her one, and her ears would flop in front of her face. She was such a good dog. I hope her departure wasn't too traumatic for you. Where are mom and dad anyway? Did they move down south like they planned? I hope you finally went to California. I hope you traveled all over the place, to places I never even thought you would go. Did you go to costa rica? I hope it was as amazing as you expected it to be. Do you still have the e.e. cummings book of poetry? The one you bought at the brattle book shop on the first warm day of spring? I hope you still read it all the time and it reminds you of that day you read the whole collection on the dock of the esplanade and those ducks came over and made friends with you and how it made you laugh and caught you by surprise. Do you still talk to your same friends? If not, you should call one of them, out of the blue. Do it. Tell them I told you to call. I hope you never became a hipster, but I hope you still got to date one eventually. Do you still listen to the same music? Have you created any music of your own? Remember how much you wanted to teach yourself to play an instrument--go do it. Please choose piano over guitar. Did you ever go to graduate school? It's alright if you didn't, you really liked your major (finally) so if you found a great job instead of more school, that's alright. But remember how badly you wanted to never stop learning. I hope you still feel the same way. Actually, I hope you still feel the same way about a lot of things. I hope you've had a bunch of really crazy, hilarious, delirious, zany, adventures these past six years. I hope you've lost and found yourself a trillion times. I hope you're happy. I hope you're loving life regardless of the deals you've been dealt. Remember that I love you. I think you're beautiful, and bright, and have a killer wardrobe, a kind heart and a lot to offer (resist the urge to vomit at that sentimental slop, i know you don't hear it as much as you'd like so allow me to say it without rolling your eyes.) Now..Go be your brilliant self! " you shall above all things be glad and young For if you're young,whatever life you wear it will become you;and if you are glad whatever's living will yourself become. Girlboys may nothing more than boygirls need: i can entirely her only love whose any mystery makes every man's flesh put space on;and his mind take off time that you should ever think,may god forbid and (in his mercy) your true lover spare: for that way knowledge lies,the foetal grave called progress,and negation's dead undoom. I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance." -e e cummings