In real life.

I suppose that public school is a place where one is supposed to learn about logarithms and where to place punctuation and how to say "I wish that you would sing me a song" in French. I did learn those things; however, public school taught me loads of other stuff, too. Oh, look: I've compiled it below.


13 Things I Learned: Lessons from Public School:


1. Everything you thought was going to happen? It won't. You will make plans and you will be prepared for everything you expect to be thrown your way, but all of the things you imagine and worry about and plan for won't happen. I'm not saying everything will be worse than you imagine and I'm not saying everything will be better. Just that everything will happen differently. 


2. All good things must come to an end. It's simply a fact of life; however, all endings are followed by new good things.


3. You have always been you. You won't discover who you are. You will discover things you like and things you dislike, things you want and believe and agree or disagree with, but you know who you are already. You're you.


4. Kissing isn't even that frightening. (Just mildly addictive.)


5. You don't have to like everyone.


6. You don't have to do everything.


7. Old friends will never, ever go out of style. Old friends will save you from awkward situations (or sometimes make situations awkward for you). They will come over on the weekends and just sit about and be happy doing nothing. They will let you borrow their clothes and tell you when they want them back. They will hate the people you hate just because you hate them. They will text you funny things like, "I stuck my tongue out at that girl, but an anemic-looking boy thought it was aimed at him and probably wept." New friends are silver, but old friends are gold.


8. Your grandparents are the coolest people you know. They've been places and done things and they will buy you lavender colored shorts from J. Crew and pass it off as an "early birthday present" so that you never have to pay them back.


9. Not everyone will like you. This used to bother me quite a lot, but one day my little sister (who's 6) said, "But Katie Thueson and Avery and Kaitlyn and Emily Henson like you and that's what's important." She's very insightful, isn't she?


10. As far as clothing goes, buy basic pieces that can be worn through the seasons. Invest in expensive things and then justify it buy saying, "If I wear these rain boots 250 times, they'll cost me only 50 cents a day." Develop a style that reflects who you are.


11. You will fall in love. Unfortunately, most of the time, it'll be with people who don't actually exist (cough, cough, Dr. Spencer Reid of Criminal Minds).


12. Make beautiful mistakes. Learn from them. Make new mistakes. Rinse and repeat. 


13. Follow your heart. It's awfully cliche - I'm aware, but I promise, promise, promise that you shan't ever regret doing what feels right.


That's a wrap, folks.
All my love,
Addy