A letter from May 14th, 2021

Dear Future Me, Congratulations! You’ve made it! You finally graduated high school...I know these past couple of months have been terrible because of COVID-19 and everything. Hopefully, we are able to not wear any masks so that you can see everyone’s amazing smile. How do you feel? After the countless sleepless nights of trying to finish a bunch of homework assignments last minute, you finally made it! It was worth the pain and suffering...not in a bad way, but you did it. I wanna take you on a trip down memory lane because let me tell you these past couple of months have been a rollercoaster from moving out of your parent's house to Reno to moving back, starting a new chapter in your life, the Navy, everything. First, I wanna start off with a touchy subject...which was leaving your home in Las Vegas to move in with Aunty in Reno. I know that was rough, but at the end of the day, you look back on it and it was one of the best things that could have happened to you. You made some new friends, got to see family that you haven’t seen in a long time. Grew closer with God and being able to be free and start loving yourself all over again. Yeah, you had some ups and downs, but that’s just life in a nutshell. You finally got in ROTC and ****** it! Remember when you first did the PFT in ROTC and you beat Lauren who held the “Iron Woman” title and you beat her? That was amazing! You were so amazing! You advanced twice in a matter of a year, that is so amazing. But unfortunately, you had to go back home due to COVID, but it was a good idea because you missed your family and you wanna be with them again. You did and you have never been happier. After you got back home, COVID was still around and you wanted to look for a job. During COVID it was hard to find a job until you got an interview at Pieology which is your favorite pizza place. Went in for an interview and you did so well, you couldn’t have done the interview better, after a couple of days you got the call that you got the job. You were so excited you couldn’t contain yourself. Now fast forward, as of May 5, 2021, you have been working at Pieology for ONE YEAR! Congratulations! Yeah, you may have seen people come and go, but you stuck around and you’ve made people’s day better with your amazing customer service. Yeah, there have been days where you just didn’t want to go to work, but you pushed through it and you got the job done! Now, it’s your senior year and everyone is talking about college and what they to pursue their degree in and everything so you started to look at colleges and you got some scholarships and got accepted to a couple, but instead of going a step further you went a step backward, and it just wasn’t getting any better. You wanted to go to a four-year college out of state, then you wanted to go to college in the state, and then you wanted to do community college. You were all over the place. You were lost and confused, then mom sat us down and was talking to us about the Navy. You always wanted to go into the Navy, you just didn’t know if you wanted to go after high school or after college, you always said “I’m enlisting after college so I could go in as an officer” but that didn’t really work out. So you gave it a shot and submitted an application saying that you were interested in the Navy, after a couple of hours you got a text message back. Fast forward a couple of days, you went into the recruiting office and chatted with the recruiter. Everything was going smoothly and then they had you take the practice ASVAB...remember how nervous you were? You kept on saying in your head “I’m not going to do good” “I'm going to fail” and then you took it...and...YOU PASSED (barely) but you passed. Then after all of that, you got scheduled for your ASVAB two weeks later. Remember how much you studied for that quiz? Day after day for about 3-5 hours. You took the ASVAB and you got a 71 which is so amazing. You have never felt so accomplished in your life ever! You got your MEPS done as well super fast, after that, you got your job (rate) which is a GSE (Gas Turbine Systems Technician, which is super cool you get to work on the engines of the ships and planes. Your ship-out date is July 21, 2021. You are the happiest you have ever been in a long time. Fast forward a few weeks, you decided you wanted to go above and beyond with the Navy, so you decided to do Special Ops. for the Navy and do either EOD (Explosives Ordnance Disposal) or SWCC (Special Warfare Combatant Craft-Crewmen), your goal is to become the first female SWCC which is a huge goal or become EOD. You have been training for almost a month now and you have come so far with your push-ups, sit-ups, and your swim/run. You just really need to work on your pull-ups. I hope you passed your PST either on May 25th or in June because it would be so amazing if you got it on your first try. Hopefully, with whatever you get or don’t get your contract you still go to basic and still get to do your job. Just remember you have come a long way and have grown up so much. I hope that everything you have been praying for and working hard for will all come together. You finally achieved so much, and guess what...everyone is proud of you even I am proud of you! Do amazing things and never give up! You got this! Remember this quote in case you think you're at rock bottom and think you can’t get back up. “Never give up on something that you can’t go a day without thinking about.” Here is also a bible verse because God has helped you a lot these past couple of months as well. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance, and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:12-13 Sincerely, Kyla Cambra-Medema