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Have you ever wished you could go back in time and tell yourself something that you know now? Would that piece of information changed anything? These are letters from Deerfield residents, written to themselves at a previous time in their lives, about something they wish they would have known then…The thing I wish I knew when I was younger was to nurture my intuitive abilities through my imagination. I was often told, “Its only your imagination, do not pay it any attention.” Even though people meant well, because I may have been scared from a TV drama, diminishing the power of the imagination buried it deep inside of me and I forgot to remember how important it was to my intuition and inner knowing. This is what I wish I would have known then: Dear Rosemary, You are now ten years old. When you were a little child you lived in your imagination a lot, because deep down you knew it …
If I could go back in time and hand a “younger me” a message of wisdom, it would be this: don’t sweat the small stuff. I know we’ve all heard this one before, but it remains alive and well in our conversations for good reason. Don’t sweat the small stuff! As a mother of three, I think I’ve finally learned to discriminate between the small stuff and the big stuff, at least from a distance if not always in the exact moment. The small stuff is the collection of magazines that pile higher without being weeded through regularly; the big stuff is the conversation one of my kids wants to have about …
My life arrived at what Malcolm Gladwell called a "tipping point" in my junior year at the University of Illinois. I was a typical business major (AKA no idea what to do with my life.) I had been writing stories about everything I saw or imagined since I was a 1st grader and I decided to take a course on writing a novel. It was a 300-level course and required the permission of the professor to waive the prerequisite courses. I was not an English major and just wanted to learn how to construct a proper novel. The professor asked me what my interest in writing was, and after reading the new …
When I became pregnant with my oldest daughter, I decided that I was now eating for two. And these were two very hungry people. I felt entitled to eat anything and everything. I decided that now that I was pregnant, I would give in to every urge, craving and food desire. This resulted in me gaining almost 75 pounds, becoming borderline pre-eclamptic and being put on bed rest, and having an emergency C-section after being in labor for over 18 hours. On top of that, my extra weight became very difficult for me to lose after my daughters birth. This is what I wish I would have known then: …
My first semester of senior year in high school was monopolized by one thing: deciding which colleges to apply to and actually getting those applications in. I had good grades, average test scores and a long list of stellar extracurricular activities. But for some reason I decided to play it safe when it came to applying to schools. The year before I had gone on a college tour with my mom. Every university I visited told me I needed better grades, higher scores and even more extracurricular activities to get accepted. I was scared and didn't want to get hurt. So, I did what a lot of kids do …
