A little advice from lessons learned

I came across this list on Facebook the other day and it prompted me to think about my past. I often think about certain relationships from my past or moments from my childhood, the ones I remember anyway which are few. On this same day I was looking for something for my oldest daughter and I came across my yearbook from my sophomore year of high school. As I read some of the pages I smiled. Some where funny, some were apologetic and some were short and sweet. I smiled mostly because I am SO glad those years of my life are over! I continued to read and I found three things that most of the comments had in common...# 1- I wish you had smiled more #2-Sorry I made you cry so much #3-sorry about your luck with the boys. #1 and #2 where what most of the boys wrote and #3 was mostly from girls. I sat and thought maybe I would have smiled more if you hadn't made me cry so much! As I turned each page looking at the faces of my peers my daughter sat beside me. I showed her a picture of her band teacher who I went to school with, her ballet instructor, and some moms and dads of some of the Little's who attend her gym. She asked me to show her some of the boys I had a crush on, and the girls who I called bffs. As I flipped through there pictures I found myself reminiscing. I remembered how awful school was, how mean and cruel some of the boys were and how nasty and scary some of the girls were. I remembered how young I was and how I longed to be settled, I remembered how some of my "friends" treated me, how sad I was, how I came down on myself how I missed out on sports and class trips because I was to afraid to put myself out there or step outside of my comfort zone. High school is supposed to be the best years of your life, I spent mine focused on the wrong things, wasting my time on relationships that caused me alot of pain in the years that followed. I have an obligation to my children to make sure that doesn't happen to them and that they don't cause pain to others. I know they are going to get their hearts broken and I can't shield them from pain, but I can raise them to be respectful, to treat everyone with kindness and be a good listener and friend, to choose a boyfriend or girlfriend who shares their same convictions and who respects them! The relationship may last a week or  it may last a lifetime! I learned  you don't have to like everybody but you do have to respect everybody! I told my daughter, you will make some of your best memories after high school with people you didn't know until after graduation. Until then take the good, take the bad and remember nothing lasts forever, make good memories, do as much as you can handle, get good grades, listen to your parents they actually do know what there talking about, don't waste your time and tears on someone who wouldn't waste theirs on you. Life is hard you must give it all you got, be happy life is short, the days drag on but the years go by so fast, be funny, be you! Long story short, I have alot of issues from my past that have hindered my present, I am going to work on #1 from the list below starting with a huge bonfire filled with photos and letters that no longer need to be a part of my life sort of a release from the pain and heartache!