A letter from May 2nd, 2020

Hey Future Katie, This is from five years ago... isn't that insane?? I'm going to be sending you a bunch of letters now, I think. Well, not like... now, now, like your now, but like I'm going to start sending my future self a bunch of letters at a bunch of times. I'm not sure how many, or all when they're going to be. Either way, you probably don't really care about that unless you're still sending letters. Maybe you could send more, and this is your reminder. I think it would be super cool and interesting to send a bunch of stuff to my 30- and 35-year-old self from my 23-year-old self. But what do I know? I'm just that stupid, cringy high school kid that you used to be (and have grown immensely from, I hope!). Mostly, I just have questions. What college did you end up going to? Are you still in school now? Did you travel abroad? How many languages do you know? Have you been dating anyone? Have you found someone, and are you thinking about getting married in the next couple of years? If so, what is he like? Is he super smart and driven? Kind and helpful? Is he athletic? I really hope so. I hope he's understanding, almost above everything else. I hope he gets you because he's like you, but not too alike to be boring, and just different enough for intrigue and conversation. Where are you living now? What city, what state? Do you live in an apartment, or are you thinking about getting a house in the relatively near future? Are you thinking that you'll move back to Wisconsin, or maybe stay in Illinois? Are you going to move out to Pennsylvania, like you've dreamed about in the past, with that big house atop a mountain on the outskirts of Pittsburgh? Is your job versatile, and can you switch companies easily without losing much money from your salary? Are you an Actuary, like I am planning on being?... Do you like it? I'm scared that I won't like it. Calculus is making me have a lot of second thoughts, but I'm not going to talk about that. You're me, five years in the future! That's no longer a concern of yours, and I won't make it one. What company do you work for, as an Actuary? Or, if you're not an Actuary for some reason, what do you do? Who do you work for? And do you like the company, the employees? Are you writing books, like you've always wanted? Do you have all of the files you've ever written, and have you developed your ideas? I really hope you have a plot now. I've been writing bits and pieces and ideas of stories, obviously, as you know, for six-ish years. In the next five, have I come up with the background? The basis? Have I developed the characters more and spoken to, maybe, a kind, understanding English professor to help me? What did you do with music? Where did you end up going with that in college? How far did you get? Ooooh! What DEGREES do you have??? Right now, it looks like I could easily cram in a TON of minors, or double-triple-majors. Actuarial Science, Finance, Economics, Accounting, Mathematics, Computer Science and Programming, maybe Pre-Law? Spanish, Music, Writing and Composition besides that? I think it would be so, super awesome to come out with a TON of different majors and minors, to prove that I know a whole bunch and to show that I'm very versatile. Although, the ones listed above are pretty heavy in the STEM department. Ooh! Let me break that down. For Science, I think the only thing I could possibly want to go into is physics. I could do something with physics, and I don't know what you did in college with physics, but I have a current suspicion that I'll have to do something with it at least once. And honestly, as long as the teacher is good, I don't think I'd mind that. Technology I have covered with Computer Science and Programming. Engineering... nothing. And I think the only kind I'd maybe like is Mechanical Engineering, and I'm sure there are hundreds of other options out there, but that's the only one I sort of know. And mathematics are literally what most of the above majors are. So that's cool! I would just like to branch out past Spanish. I think French, German, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Chinese/Mandarin, and Swedish and/or Danish would be awesome. I hope I can learn almost all of those languages at some point during my life, and definitely travel to places where those languages are spoken MANY times during my life. I want to learn all about cultures, too. All kinds, even beyond those that belong to the above languages. I'd like to take a couple Psychology and a few Philosophy classes, as long as they're not too boring, and with Music I'd probably do Performance but maybe minor in Teaching so I could teach lessons when I'm older and past my main career(s). But I don't think you need to have a minor or degree in that to teach, so probably I'd just do Performance. I'd want to go further in college with my flute, play some piccolo, definitely advance with my voice, and keep going with tenor saxophone. Maybe in college I could pick up alto and bari sax, trumpet, and french horn. I could probably fool around with the oboe. But I don't feel the need to play clarinet or tuba, or baritone. I could also fool around with a trombone, but nothing too serious or in-depth. Percussion would be cool, but it's not my realm. If someone wanted to teach me, like a close friend, boyfriend, or teacher/director, then I would, but I wouldn't be too interested in learning on my own. Oh! And I would love to be awesome at the piano!! I could take lessons more regularly, have better and easier access to pianos than I do now, and begin excelling at it. I wouldn't want to be amazing - I would settle for being advanced, past intermediate, and able to play a handful of advanced songs like Moonlight Sonata and Fur Elise, stuff like that. But I don't need to be WOW amazing. Just pretty great, and versed in piano. It's a common instrument, so you have to be good if you want to be noticed even a little bit. I would stay out of the strings arena, but if later in life someone offered me a violin or wanted to teach me, or I wanted to learn some more of it - I would. Probably not anything else, though. Just violin. I could probably do viola if I wanted to be a little more well-rounded with string instruments, but eh. That would just be for show, and less for the sake of learning and growing at this point. I pretty much know where I want to go with Writing and Composition, or whatever major or minor you need to author novels. I want to take the classes, become professional about it, discuss and dissect all of my stories with someone who's willing to develop this stuff with me, plan out my plot and everything, and then develop all of my ideas to be published as novels and books and stories. There's not much else besides that. I could see myself writing some newspaper articles for a college newspaper, or editing those columns. I think that I could actually make a good sum of money for editing people's papers in college. I'm super good at editing, and I hope that you did capitalize on that in college. Right now I'm thinking I could do that super well. I don't know how much I'd charge. Probably a certain fixed amount for a certain number of pages, and then extra money for every page after that. Then again, I don't know what college paper are going to be like. You're probably laughing at me, because they're so different from what I think. Anyways, the last possible thing I think I'd want to pursue is law. Pre-law, maybe, and then move to a law school? I don't know how that all works, but I think working as a criminal lawyer or an FBI agent, or at any rate, higher up in the criminal justice system, would be super awesome. It's that intrigue dream job that I might pursue after I've gathered enough money as an Actuary. I think while I was at the FBI NAA YLP Leadership Camp (*clap* 21!), they said they don't accept people past the age of... 27? 37? I thought it was 37, but now I'm not so sure. I HOPE it's 37. That way I actually COULD get in after gathering enough money and perhaps tiring of my job as an Actuary. Anyways, those are my aspirations, but you're beyond a lot of that. No matter what you did for college, or where you live, or who you're with: I hope you're happy. And if you're not, hop to it! You have so much that you can do with your life! I mean, look at everything above this! Even if you don't have a guy (although I hope at this point that you do... and that you want to marry him!), there is so much you can do. Learn new languages and instruments or go back to college for criminal justice or to finish a computer programming major, or write books! There's so much out there. I just hope you're doing what you want, and still have goals - but ones that you're going to accomplish. I'm sure you've been able to knock some of the stuff I want off the list, and I'm very excited for that in the future. I hope you still are too. Well, I guess that trailed off into something else entirely, and it became more of a Dreams and Aspirations paper instead of a Questions paper, but I think it served its purpose. I did ask a lot of questions earlier... Maybe I'll add a few more. How many dogs do you have? How are your future horse-owning prospects looking? How often do you visit with the family, and they with you? How many close friends do you have? Do you have a lot of other, less close but still significant friends, kind of like I do now? How many times have you been in love since that eighth grade trash bag mistake? Are you in love now? What are your dogs' names? Or, what is your dog's name? Do you still have an iPad, and is your laptop a Huawei one similar to what I have now? (I didn't even have to look at the logo to spell it that time! I was tempted though.) Are you still planning to have a cozy room with full bookshelves, and maps and globes either in that same room or another? What is your favorite flower? Is your favorite color still purple?... Do you still have Puppy? I hope so for that one too. What kind of phone do you have? Do you remember your AcaDec days fondly? I think that's all I'll do. Have a great day, a great week, a great month, and a great year. I hope you and yours are well. You're fantastically amazing, awesome, beautiful, know your stuff, and get **** done. Enjoy your life and everything in it. Live like tomorrow won't come. Read books, and go outside. Surround yourself with the best of people. And exercise and drink water regularly... Maybe with your boyfriend? Your to-be husband? Anyways, good luck. I hope you love yourself, and read this and say to yourself, "I do," nodding your head and smiling just a little bit, and then look up around you and realize what an amazing life you have. Remember that I did this. And I'm you, so you did this. You got your life back on track. You set goals, and achieved a lot of them. You are still pushing forward. You're incredible, and can do anything and everything. Love, Katie J.