Dear Teen Me, from Author Lindsay Cummings

Dear Teen Me,

There are three words that you should know. Three words  that will get you through the hard times.

In a few years, your mom is going to discover that she has breast cancer, and your family is going to seem like it is collapsing all around you. I wish you could just remember the three words. Please remember them.

You are loved.

It’s going to be hard to wake up and see the red-rimmed eyes of your big sister, who used to be your rock. But she won’t be anymore. For awhile, she will change, and then you’ll have to be the rock, Lindsay. You’ll only be thirteen, but you are going to be the one who has to stay sane, who has to drag yourself out of bed every morning and force yourself just to get through another day.

It’s going to be hard. Trust me, I know.

That’s why you need the three words.

You are loved.

When you get to high school, things will get better. You’ll have the most gorgeous guy in school. You will be great at music, and you will have awesome grades. Everything will seem right.

When you turn sixteen, you’ll play a sport that only the boys play, and you’ll be the only girl. You’ll be excited. You’ll be proud of yourself. Your boyfriend will be proud of you. But then when you walk through the halls and hear whispers from the pretty girls, the popular ones, who turn and stare at you like you’re a freak, things will change. Just because you look different, because you act different, because you don’t fit the mold of what everyone else expects you to be.

The pretty girls will make up lies by saying you’re something that you are not.

“Lesbian.”

“Dike.”

They’re wrong. Those pretty girls aren’t pretty at all, they’re cold and heartless and ugly inside, hurting you as a reaction to something that hurts them. It’s not all their fault, though. They’re young, too, just like you. They don’t know that their words will stab like knives, and that every time you look in the mirror, you will feel like you’re staring at something ugly, something that isn’t good enough. You will feel like you’re staring at a girl who stares back with emptiness in her eyes.

This is why you need to know those three words.

You are loved.

That will get better, Lindsay. And then you’ll have a boyfriend that you think you can trust, but don’t. Please, please, don’t.

He will wrong you.

He’ll whisper that he loves you, but at the end of those long three years, he’ll rip your heart out and shatter it on the floor. You’ll have friends that are unworthy of your trust that will kiss the lips of the boy that was supposed to belong to you.

And you’ll lose those friends, because they weren’t friends at all. Just like the pretty girls that don’t know you, that don’t understand your pure heart, that don’t understand the measure of the tears you will cry.

You will always compare yourself to your sister, who is gorgeous, and popular, and everything you want to be but think you are not. Just remember the three words.

You are loved.

It is going to be hard. You are going to fail at things. You are going to have nights where you don’t want to cry anymore. You are going to have times where you feel like you’re tired of being tired, and you’re going to get depressed. You’re going to think that life is a black hole that keeps on sucking you in

But guess what?

That’s why you have three words, Lindsay.

You are loved.

That’s why you need to learn to walk with your head held high. YOU are beautiful, Lindsay. YOU are adventurous, and fun, and perfect the way God made you. You are crazy, and fun, and you will always eat too much sugar. You will always make people laugh, and you will always be tiny and wear the same pair of jeans for four years. You will always have crazy curly hair, and you will hate it, but some day, when you get a little bit older, you’re going to meet the most amazing man. And he will love your curly hair.

He is going to look at you the way God looks at you, like you are perfect, like he sees through all of your flaws. You’re going to fall in love, and it will be real, and one day, he is going to put a ring on your finger. Your family will support you in everything you do, and when you get older, Lindsay, when the things that happen to you right now are dead and gone, you will be stronger because of it.

You will be happy. You will be beautiful, and just a little bit taller, and you will still have crazy colors in your hair.

But most of all you will know that you are someone special.

You are someone that is worth it.

You are someone you have always wanted to be, but in reality, someone you have always have been all along.

And please. Please.

Always remember the three words, Lindsay. They are the biggest truth you will ever come to know.

You are loved.

You are loved.

---

Lindsay is a 20-yr-old YA author of all things Science Fiction, dark, and twisted. Her YA scifi, THE MURDER COMPLEX, is currently on submission with publishers. Lindsay lives with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and is represented by agent Louise Fury at the L. Perkins Agency.

Lindsay is a lover of all things German Shepherd, has too many tattoos, and is unashamed to admit she is a follower of Jesus Christ. She frequently attends writer’s conferences around the US, and is a member of SCBWI, as well as an advocate for “Reading With Dogs” in the Dallas area, which focuses on encouraging mentally challenged students to read with the help of a furry friend.

Online haunts: Website, Blog, Twitter

 

Tags: YA