To Saya from Saya

Dear Future Saya,

It’s me, Present Day Saya. How are you? Good? Stressed? Partying?

I hope you’re having fun. I’m not working this hard first semester for you to not take advantage of the free time as a second semester senior. You should be going out after school every day, getting froyo, Tpumps, pho and just hanging out with your friends.

It’s crunch time for me right now. I have all of my college apps due at once, and I feel like the world is crashing down around me. It’s overwhelming, honestly. I don’t know how I’m supposed to keep pushing through, because it just seems like a never ending stream of work to be done.

But, you should be home free! All of the work is done and you can just sit back and reap the benefits — no college stress, less homework and more free time. I hope that you’ve gotten an acceptance letter from at least one college, and I want you to know that I’ll be proud of you no matter where you end up going. I don’t want you to let college ruin your last semester of high school.

Try new things! Maybe take a tap dancing class — you should have the time now. Spend more time with Mom and Dad because you won’t have such ready access to them next year. Maybe teach yourself how to cook and do laundry.

Be in the school musical! I know that singing in public terrifies you, but this is your last opportunity to do a show with all of your best friends. Maybe campaign to change the musical from “Legally Blonde” to “Legally Brown,” so that you can be the lead.

Get back into the kitchen and work on your baking. Enjoy the rhythm and routine that comes with mindlessly following a recipe, and maybe even come up with a few treats of your own. I’m sure nobody will mind having cakes and pies constantly being churned out! My goal is for you to have mastered the art of Nutella-filled cookies before you leave for college. I know it seems daunting, but there’s nothing quite like molten chocolate to make you feel good.

Spend more time in San Francisco and D.C. with your siblings! You have an amazing opportunity to explore these hubs, and you get free food and a place to sleep. Go on a gastronomic adventure and make the siblings take you to all sorts of weird restaurants, like Kokkari Estiatorio for Greek fusion food. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

We both know that Dad is willing to do anything for us in his panic about being an empty nester soon, so I’m sure that you have convinced him to take you somewhere exotic on a vacation. I’m hoping for New Zealand or Buenos Aires, but Japan or Ljubljana would be cool too!

Basically, I just hope that you’re savoring every minute of your life. I don’t want you to miss a thing.

Do me proud,

Present Day Saya