twenty

an open letter to this elmo loving two year old

Dear Camille,

In 18 years, you will have just turned 20. That’s right, you’re really stinking old now. I’m going to try and explain my past year in the simplest way for you. At the start of your 19th year of life you moved out of the house away from mom and dad. You started college! Quickly after starting school, you learn that making friends isn’t as easy as it was when you were 2. Simply going up to a stranger and saying “hi we are friends now” will just get you known as a crazy person. Lame, I know. However, you find that being alone sometimes is really good for yourself and you take pride in your independence. You love your new home and the fact that you live five minutes from your best friend! Everything’s going great but eventually life caught up to you and things got hard. In January you began to really miss home and having friends and that contagious smile of yours didn’t come around as easily. In March, you decided to take a break from school and come home to hit the reset button and get a bit of family time in. This is when things really get weird: the whole world  gets really sick, causing stores to close and people have to start wearing masks. Vacations get canceled and leaving Moscow becomes difficult. From April through July, things continue to be tough. In August, you started classes at the university of Idaho. To put it short, you had a really rough 19th year of life in a lot of ways. However, if there’s anything that’s innately “Camille” it’s your optimism, or your ability to always see the happy side (you can see it in your smile). For instance, you have learned that you really love peanut butter + bananas, crazy I know. Back to it, this past year has caused a lot of discomfort, but a whole lotta change, so that’s something to be grateful for. If there’s anything I can teach you, it’s to take a deep breath and count to 10 when life seems hard. Give yourself grace, because if there’s anything 19 year old Camille learned, it’s that life is chaotic but you always make more progress than you think. Year number 20 is dedicated to giving yourself credit, loving where you’re at, and finding that very cheeky smile again.

Xoxo,

Camille, 20yrs.