You got your braces off before moving (YES, finally!) and your smile is beautiful. Make sure to smile as much as possible, people notice. They compliment you on your smile, and you make others smile.
First off, I'm so proud of you! When mom and dad told you that we were moving to Philadelphia you were such a good sport about the whole thing. You surprised everyone in the family by being able to keep that huge thing a secret from everyone before it was finalized and we could tell family. Don't worry, you were a professional at keeping secrets as soon as High School started. You were so nervous when you had to muster up all your courage and blurt out to your best friends that you were moving... Again... You learned that it was okay to cry. When you stepped into your new purple room for the first time you ran out of the house and curled into a ball by yourself, bawling and cursing this idea of moving, not knowing who to turn too or where to go.
Eighth grade was hard for the first half of the year. You lived in a hotel and couldn't really invite friends over, which made things so much harder. You began to develop anxiety and didn't tell anyone about it, you were sad about moving and didn't know how to deal with it. You refused to call Philadelphia home, you still sometimes don't. You finally opened up to mom and dad and right away they created a plan to help you. You started journaling your emotions and you started forcing yourself to become more extroverted in order to make new friends - it worked! While you still have anxiety, you've learned how to deal with it and how to contain it so that it doesn't constantly impact your every move. You kept your head held high, smiled, and your confidence soared.
You joined the track team and found love with hurdling (it was short-lived and you quit sophomore year, sorry!) Then once you finally branched out you met some cool people. Stick with these people! These are some of your lifelong friends that have your back- you'll need them A LOT in high school. Trust me. Be open to them, they are more than willing to let you in. I know it's hard since you feel like they hardly know you, but they're great people, I promise.
So you went through one big change, but another one is still on the horizon. High School. Most important thing, stop saying that freshman are stupid while you are a freshman. Just because Anton said that doesn't mean it's true. He's older than you. He's supposed to say that.
Stop saying you're NEVER going to do things. You ended up doing a lot of those things you said you never were going to do in high school. You thought preppy people were all snobby- guess who started dressing preppy? You thought people who wore makeup to school were fake, you did that too! You wore tight dresses and obnoxiously high heels to Croatian events, you wore your hair in buns sometimes, you painted your nails once a week, you thought Instagram was stupid and then you became slightly obsessed with it, and you applied to a college that you had refused to consider before because of its name (you visited, really liked it, got in, and WILL BE ATTENDING!!!)
Lastly, you didn't want to associate yourself with hearing loss because you wanted people to see you for your personality. That doesn't mean it's not a part of your life - it always will be and it has been a great way for you to push and prove your self worth to yourself, but you learned that hearing loss was just a small part of you, and it most certainly will never define you.
The boy situation does get better! You ended up liking that boy you thought was a weirdo 9th and 10th grade. Nothing really came out of it, but you became more mature and learned how to vocalize your feelings to someone you like. You also had a fair share of boys who were interested in you but you didn't reciprocate those feelings with. Those led to some awkward and uncomfortable situations but you handled them well. You still find boys very confusing, but progress was made in high school. You went from being scared out of your mind of boys to being able to become friends with them by senior year. Definitely a huge step in the right direction.
Your innocent mind found out that kids have sex in high school. You freaked out inside. You kept your cool outside. Through all of this you learned not to judge others because of their decisions- remember it's THEIR DECISION and it doesn't have to agree with yours, so don't judge.
You pushed yourself academically. You ended up doing IB just like you planned in 8th grade. It was a struggle but you loved the curriculum. You did better Senior Year. You realized that making friends was more difficult since these people were already besties before the program. You didn't make it into the "cool crowd" and honestly you were more upset about it than you should have been. Lesson: If someone doesn't want to be friends with you that's their loss because you're a fun, exciting, freaking awesome, cool, and unique person. Those "IB parties" you hated because you were never invited, are so overrated and get old. You learned how to make your own fun, not to care what others thought of you, and always stayed happy, cheery, and tried to be nice to everybody.
You tried so many new things. You created this blog which has become your outlet and main form of expression. You joined the sailing team and found another stress reliever. You fell in love with the wind. You looked forward to sailing as it always lifted your mood and brought you back to your normal, happy, self. It kept you from going insane during the spring of your Junior Year. You started a Yoga club and ran the Soup Kitchen club. Your Friday nights were reserved for Croatian School. You went on trips with them and made some bad choices. You were scolded by your parents but you know better now. You babysat a lot and you learned that you love and are great with kids. You were asked to become a member of the National Honor Society and you were so proud of your accomplishments. You tried the swim team (failed horribly) and quit soccer.
Those best friends you have, you told each other everything. You're traveling Europe with the friends you made when you first moved to Philadelphia this summer. Shocker how great you became with them after five years right? They probably know some parts of you better than you do.
You took your IB exams. You went home and could not believe that two years of hard work were over. You did it. You lived in Philadelphia for 5 full years. Now it's time to move again. This time to College.
Congratulations on Graduation! High School was a crazy time, you grew a lot. Now let's see where College takes us :)
xoxo Love,
17 year old Andela
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