Hey kid.
I'm sorry, I can't say the whole life thing gets any easier.
Look, I know you're really scared right now. I know your best friends just moved to different continents. I know Genji's gone. I know Gato's gone. I know Ben is gone. I know you're hurt and confused. I know 7th grade math is hard. I know your heart aches. I know some girls were trying to make you take some really stupid decisions. I know you dropped out of AFA 'cause the stress was too much. I know you're still getting used to wearing glasses. I know the acne is just starting to get noticeable enough for people to laugh. I know your braces are uncomfortable and therefore, you hardly smile. I know the boy whose locker's above yours keeps dropping his science textbook on your head. I know you're too afraid to speak up about it. I know you forget to eat your lunch. And your breakfast. And your dinner. I know you're better than the boy whom everyone claims likes you. I know you never want to get out of bed in the mornings but can't go to sleep at night. I know you've written 27 angry letters to yourself but haven't torn them up yet. I know you spend far too much time in front of the mirror. I know the only reason you're growing out your hair is to donate it. I know about that time you made yourself sick from crying and I know it was caused from scratching yours arms too hard. I know you feel like you're beginning to go insane, but darling, you're gonna be okay.
I know that you're a fighter. I know that you're tougher than all of this.
Summer after 7th grade, you're gonna go away to Andover for 5 weeks on your own and the first night, you're gonna cry yourself to sleep, but after that, you're gonna wish you never had to leave. This is the summer that will change your mind about boarding school.
When you turn 12, you're gonna tell your parents you want to leave the country and go to boarding school. They're going to ask you if this is what you really want. You'll say that you're positive.
8th grade is gonna be spent making lists of schools, filling out applications, doing interviews, taking the SSATs, and breezing by English class because the teacher doesn't even check your homework. In December, you're going to start having second thoughts about leaving home. You're going to tell your parents you want to quit, but they tell you that you shouldn't quit after having come this far.
As your hopes start getting up for the possibility of leaving the country, your depression lessens. The counselor is nice enough so you keep going every Friday.
March arrives and you have a Harry Potter movie marathon for your 13th birthday. You skip the sixth movie because nobody liked that one. March 9th, you find out you've been rejected to six schools out of the nine you applied to. Two have you waitlisted and The Abbey hasn't responded yet. Your friends give you ice cream so you stop crying.
You know even if you get accepted to the Abbey, you won't be able to go unless they offer a significant amount of financial aid. You pray to God that night that if your parents can only send one of you to boarding school, that it please be your brother. Because he deserves it. Because you feel unworthy.
Bullshit, Maya. You needed this just as much as he did.
March 10th, Papi tells you to open your email at 6AM. You've been accepted. Full scholarship.
You're going. You're finally leaving this hellhole.
Freshman year is not as wonderful as you thought. It's full of homesickness, and suicidal thoughts, and stress, and wonderful friends you think you're unworthy of. You're naive and you're just starting to figure yourself out.
Sophomore year, you're going to learn what it means to be independent. You're going to learn about abuse and manipulation and betrayal, but you're also going to learn to endure, to forgive and to fall in love again. You're going to grow a tougher skin, you're gonna learn how to fall in love with the little things, and look at the bigger picture. You grow up a lot your 14/15th year/s.
Right now, kiddo, you stand proudly at 5'2, you've got a streak of deep purple hair, you're nearly acne free, you've mastered the art of contacts, your smile is as brilliant as the sun, you've got supportive friends and a caring boyfriend, you've managed to keep up good grades both years, you're part of one of the greatest musical groups in school, you've participated in five plays, and now you're about to enter your Junior year of highschool.
Maya, I am so proud of you. If not anyone else, I am.
You have grown so much in just four years' time.
And as they say, the sky's the limit, so keep on dreaming. Never stop.
Hasta la próxima,
Con muchisimo amor y orgullo xoxo
15-Year-Old Maya