A letter from October 16th, 2013 from your past self

So Brett, it's been 13 years and you're now 30, happy birthday by the way. I want you to think back to when you were 17, you might remember all this gruff about the NSA spying and the Syrian chemical weapons situation, the government shutdown, your last year of high school, or even the little things I hear as i type this, the children running between their rooms, mom & Scott watching their crime shows, the ******* clatter of Sadie sue's nails, god... I'm sure you miss her and still love her just as hard as i do as i currently sit in fear of when she'll pass in her old age, but I'm just as sure you've forgotten about her after carrying on with life all these years, just as i already have with Jake and amber, remember her (the 20 pound, 13 year old dachshund hound) dragging you along as you walked to the bus stop to get the kids, her cute little lip roll from getting her teeth pulled, her waking up to greet you getting home from school every day, the cute way she squinted after her eyes stopped making tears, having your morning coffee with her, her always going to great lengths to sit on your lap because you were her boy, the little belly scar from being fixed, the 4 tumors that scared us to ***** until we found they were all benign, how she would piss on the floor to tell you somethings wrong.. she always was a stubborn German *****, The point of this message, as I'm sure you recall by this point in the letter, is a reality check. what are your values? do you still believe in helping the needy in our society, that a country exists to help its people who are struggling, that authority unregulated leads to chaos, or does is this all just sound like the erratic thoughts of a naive teenager which are washed away in a greater context? one thing i know i can't be wrong about though, is even though you must always look forward and continue with your life, don't forget your past, don't forget everything that happened to you good and bad that made you who you are today, don't forget the little things that make life worth living, as you look around yourself and get caught up in all the small details you're currently Pre-occupied with, remember that everything around you will otherwise be forgotten, as all the things i talked about would have been had i not written this letter. P.S. - go get that birthday *** for me!