Turn Back Time Tuesday - Being "Aunt Kate" & 13 going on 30?

Why the hop in the time machine to look back on being an Aunt?  Well, my oldest nephew Ryan is having his confirmation this weekend.  And as a 13 year old, my SIL decided the best gift for him was advice.  She asked all of us relatives to come up with advice, or favorite quotes to help this awkward teen make his way through the next few years.  We all remember being 13, don't we? Ugh.  Not fun at all.  So I wrote my advice based on knowing he is about to fully walk into "the teen years".  Here is the advice I wrote to him.

Ryan~

When times get hard (and they will) remember that sometime soon you will look back on them in the past tense.  The best thing about life is it keeps moving forward and you always have an opportunity to start anew.  Moments are just that.  Moments.  And they will all pass by eventually onto new moments. 

 

Take pictures!  Take pictures to document the moments worth remembering.  Because the years move by so fast, you’ll want to be able to look back fondly and remember those good times.  

 

And above all, remember to have hope!  My personal favorite quote is from my favorite movie, The Shawshank Redemption.  “Hope is a good thing;  maybe the best of things.  And no good thing ever dies.”  I have so much hope for you Ryan... on what is to come in the years ahead as you make your way through life.  Enjoy it, because the meaning of life is truly to enjoy the ride!

Love, 

Aunt Kate

Being thirteen is about it being awkward!  Thirteen is about feeling no matter what, you're not good enough.  Thirteen is about hormones raging through your body, acne, bad hair, body hair, poor choices in style, etc. Right?  I thought I was so mature when I was thirteen.  13 going on 30!  But I was no where near as "trying to be grown up" as some of the thirteen year old girls I see walking around town!  Do they know they'll be "old" before they know it?  I swear the past 21 years have gone by fairly quickly.  And now I know I that I didn't know anything!  (And probably still don't).  

Lord help all 13 year olds!  It's got to be one of the worst years (in my opinion).  What other advice can you give aside from "It'll soon be over"?  At least I tried to me more eloquent and yet convey that idea.  

We were also asked to include a photo of either ourselves, or one of us with Ryan.  Sadly, the pictures I have of just me and Ryan from the real early years are not digital.  And once he got older, I took pictures...but there is not one of just the two of us.  So I sent this one and only digital photo of me with him and one of his younger brothers playing "horse".  It's from 2003 or 2004 when he was about four years old.  Then a picture of Ryan now.  And a picture of me, when I was about his age (I'm 14 in the picture).  I always looked old for my age, but geez!