I found some old photos of myself and my best friend as high school baccalaureates – I pondered what I would say to myself now that I didn’t know then…

• You’ve just finished some of the best years of your life- be sure and thank your teachers; or apologize to them -whichever is most appropriate.
• You are not at the finish line- you are just beginning the race.
• You will become a life long student.
• You will meet the love of your life, the marriage will last a very long time.
• You grew up in the south, a great place to grow up despite it’s shortcomings.
• You will live, work and raise a family in the south- a great place for doing those things despite your own shortcomings.
• One day, you will discover a whole big world is out there; and you will get to see  a whole lot of it.
• As you graduate, the United States put a man on the moon, but you will see things in your lifetime that you never believed possible.
• Take care of yourself, your whole self- body, mind and spirit. It will serve you well.
• You will be thankful your whole life that you learned to read.
•  Try to make the best decisions you can, remember you won’t get it right every time.
• You will make mistakes, your life won’t always be easy- but it will be good.
• You might have more than a few dark days-but you will laugh a whole lot.
• You may not know what you will do with your life-it is more important to be.
• You will have teachers, mentors and special friends at every stage of your life. You will need them all.
• At every age you will ask yourself what you should be doing and what you will be.
• You will be a mentor, a ‘teacher’, a writer, a friend, a wife and a mother- sometimes all at once!
• You will have wonderful, exciting and unexpected experiences in your life.
• You will get at least 2 miracles maybe more!
• You can’t go back and make anything different. You can always move forward and with God’s Help- make things better.
• Everything you’ve experienced will make you who you are.
• Don’t ever forget you are a miracle, born at just the right moment in history.

If you are graduating from kindergarten, middle school, jr. high,high school, college or graduate school congratulations! May all the good things you hope for become a reality and more!

Love y’all, Camellia