Dear Jane,
Congrats on being 26 (and eight months)! When you read this, I hope you are living your best life — one that doesn’t make you regret the choices you’ve made in the past 10 years.
I am 16 and I feel so grown up yet so young simultaneously. The most important part of my life seems to be passing my classes and taking my AP tests; each day consists of endless studying that seems to leave me more confused than the day before.
When I’m not reading pages and pages from my AP Art History textbook, I’m writing or reading. Right now, I’ve become enthralled with Ocean Vuong’s poetry and Han Kang’s novels, but I also loved all the books we read in English this year — particularly Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.”
When I do get out of the house, I visit Main Street each Saturday morning to eat a muffin at Philz Coffee or grab a coffee and study at Nirvana Soul. Often, I’m watching a Formula 1 race while I do so, cheering on Yuki Tsunoda. It’s been less than five months since I started watching, but it’s quickly consumed my weekends.
I’ve visited the Cupertino Library too many times to count this past month, but working there always makes me more productive than when I’m at home. Both there and Cafe Lattea have become my third places over this year, and I’m there whenever I can’t motivate myself to study.
My recent music has become a blend of old K-pop favorites, including BTS’s 2018 and 2019 albums and TXT; Laufey; beabadoobee; IU and Korean R&B. I’ve only been to two concerts, but I’m hoping that TXT will be on tour soon again.
I’m watching “Adolescence” right now, but I love watching “Drive to Survive” whenever new seasons are out, and I’m always looking for new TV shows. I hate watching movies but I’ve made a few exceptions, and I have a soft spot for “Past Lives.”
I dream of studying Comparative Literature in college and studying abroad somewhere before I graduate college. I wouldn’t be surprised if I changed my major, although as of now, I would despise studying math or biology for four years. Chemistry is my hardest subject, although I like it, and English has always been my favorite.
I hope you savored the last year of high school; I hope you don’t miss being young too much. I hope everything you have done and everything you will do has made growing up worth it.
Above all, I hope you’re happy with where you are and grateful for the past 10 years — I’m positive we’ve ended up where we’re supposed to be. I’ll try my best to make sure you won’t regret any of the decisions I make. I hope I’ll make you proud and I hope you will make me proud too. I’m glad we exist.
Love,
Me
