The summer I was 13

When I was putting up Joseph's birthday decorations (which still haven't come down, because the rule is that decorations never come down), I had to take down a quilt that I had put up a few months earlier as sort of a winter quilt.

As I folded it up, I saw what I had written on the back years ago:

2003! Wow! That was 13 years ago! I've lived half my life since then!

Since then, I've thought a bit about that summer. In some ways, I think it was the most productive summer of my life.

I started the summer off with a fresh new journal (in WordPerfect, of course), with these goals:

1. Finish making my quilt.
2. Doing my dad’s book.
3. Keeping in contact with my friends
4. Learning to do my own hair (I know it sounds pathetic but the only things I can do with my hair are brush it, part it, and put into a ponytail and I want to learn to braid it.)
5. Working on my garden.
6. Reading Every Living Thing, All Creatures Great and Small, My Name is Asher Lev, Emma, Watership Down, Girl of Limberlost, Crystal Cave, and The Delmark (sp) Quartet.
7. Getting lots of personal progress marked off.
8. Seeing my friends a lot.
9. Cross-stitch
10. Learn to bake bread
11. Pull off a play/write a story
12. Mow the lawn adequately
13. Get taller
14. Finish Book of Mormon or Doctrine and Covenants
15. Eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day

Well, fifteen goals are enough.

By the end of the summer, here's how well I did:

1.     Finish making my quilt.  (Yep)

2. Doing my dad’s book.  (Nope.  Got to chapter 10 and am still working on it)

3. Keeping in contact with my friends (until these past two weeks)     

4. Learning to do my own hair (I know it sounds pathetic but the only things I can do with my hair are brush it, part it, and put into a ponytail and I want to learn to braid it.)  (Kind of but I lost my skill over the summer)

5. Working on my garden.  (Uh huh)

6. Reading Every Living Thing, All Creatures Great and Small, My Name is Asher Lev, Emma, Watership Down, Girl of Limberlost, Crystal Cave, and The Delmark Quartet.  (I know I must have been joking when I said that.)

7. Getting lots of personal progress marked off.  (Yeah)

8. Seeing my friends a lot.  (No)

9. Cross-stitch (You mean that dull thing where you play with a needle.  Knitting hats is enough.)

10. Learn to bake bread (no but I did make rolls)

11. Pull off a play/write a story (uh uh didn’t work)

12. Mow the lawn adequately (whatever adequately means I guess I kind of made that goal)

13. Get taller (not exactly a goal as much as aspiration, wish, dream.  I think I did)

14. Finish Book of Mormon or Doctrine and Covenants (never started)

15. Eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day (once my choice and accountability project started I did but I haven’t really done it since.  Not today even.)

Even though I didn’t get most of my goals, I still had a great time.  I went to parties, went to Kansas, went to Bryce, went to a quilt show, went to the bathroom (sorry that’s not funny I’m just sick of went) learned a lot, had a relatively good temper the whole summer (I think), saw a meteor shower, went to Yellowstone, and all over had a fabulous, fantastic, fun, and superlative summer.  (So it’s not an alliteration, but if you have a lisp it might be).

About to embark on a hike with my friends. Not 100% sure how I both kept in contact with my friends but didn't see my friends a lot (based on my goal list.)

In Bryce Canyon

In Kansas

I admit that I haven't read the whole journal of what happened in between. After reading about a few fights with my sisters I decided it was too painful and embarrassing to continue. (Noteworthy entry: "If I die and this diary is discovered like Anne Frank’s was then maybe Kaylie will appreciate me more and will strive to be a better person.")

But even without reading all the entries that happened between the beginning and end of summer, it's clear I was quite productive. 

It's also sobering to realize how much of that list still hasn't been accomplished. I have not really gotten any better at doing my hair than the few tricks I learned when I was 13. The books I didn't cross off that list have never been crossed off. (Side note: I did read a lot of other books that summer, and I had read the Book of Mormon on my own before then, so it wasn't like I was totally illiterate.) I have yet to pull off a play or write a story.

And I know that I have lots of life ahead of me still to learn all the things I'd like, but I don't foresee a time in the near future when I'll just be able to throw myself into every project the way I could back then. So I'm grateful I took advantage of it to some extent, and just wish I had done more!

So I guess this is the advice I have to adolescents -- learn as much as you can now! Imagine yourself 13 years from now. Maybe you will be a stay-at-home mom looking for healthy outlets. Would you want to become a Zumba instructor? Seamstress extraordinaire? Pinterest-worthy chef? Master gardener? Get started now! Don't wait til you're older -- you will be busy with high school and then college and then work and maybe babies and you will have a lot more inertia then than now. If you dive into hobbies while you are young, you will never regret it.

And for those who are 13+ years older than an adolescent? You've still got a lot of life ahead of you! It's never too late to learn how to braid.