Dear Midlife Me,

 

It will have been long

a long, long time

since you have written this.

But if you exist

if you are there

please take but a moment

to listen to me.

Listen to the teenage you.

 

As I look about the world each day,

I see those faces

deepened with age.

Those faces who have lived,

loved and cried.

Although some still have life,

some still show hope,

too many I see

hold a dead look in their eye.

They have lost that drive,

that hope, that passion.

 

They say life has been hard.

Over the years they have developed,

adapted.

As a defense

their castle walls have been built up high.

But they too once had dreams.

 

I do not wish to harshly judge.

I have not yet lived,

I have not yet loved.

Some believe I am naive

some believe I am just too young to know.

And I agree.

But I also believe this makes me true

untarnished, fresh, maybe worth listening to.

 

"Oh, how silly was I,"

you might say,

"how funny, how cute, cheeky in every way!"

You will have lived, you will have loved;

all of your knowledge and experience

contains my own.

 

But sometimes,

ignorance is bliss.

 

So please, take a moment

to listen to me

Listen to the teenage you.

 

I know not where you are

I hope you exist,

I hope you are well.

My wish is not to depress,

rather to rejuvenate, maybe a silver lining joy.

Maybe you are fine,

but maybe you are lost.

Please try to remember

my hopes, my dreams,

worries and expectations.

Hold them in your memory.

Maybe I can find you.

 

The world is full of tears,

of woe.

Not a day passes

in which every eye is dry.

And no, one human cannot make all the difference;

no single man can save the world.

But in the end

if a word, a deed

can dry one single tear,

it was worth the time, the effort, the energy.

And when I die,

whatever awaits me

I want to die knowing

the world was a little better because of my existence.

No matter how little.

 

Midlife Me, you give me strength.

Though you do not yet exist,

I learn from you.

Thinking of you

I know what is important:

you define my priorities and passions.

When I am down

when I am lost

I look to you to guide my way.

 

So please

take but a moment

to examine, to check yourself.

What is important to you?

Your priorities? Your passions?

Your hopes, dreams, and expectations?

Live,

love and cry.

It is never to late to find yourself

never too late to make the difference.

 

Remember me

and all of you since me.

 

Be true to yourself.

 

Love,

The teenage you