Written to and by:

Veronica Barrios-Garcia

Dear Self,

You think you are pretty awesome, right? Of course you are, you are twenty-eight years old. You look amazing. You think you are fat, but, really, I wish I looked like you. The future is bright; you’ve finished college and have begun your career. Life is an image of ambitious, filled weekdays and debachorous weekends. You’ve had your share of late nights, spontaneous trips and wreck less decisions. Risks seem thoughtless, but incomparable to the obstacles ahead. Your biggest responsibility is paying the rent and your monthly budget is 40% nightlife and alcohol…I miss you!

I’m here to tell you that you’ve made some admirable decisions:

College degree-awesome, that’s helped us a lot.

Husband – good choice, he’s a keeper.

I know you are in your honeymoon lovey duddy phase, but he’s truly amazing. In ten years you won’t want to jump his bones as often, but you will always be happy he’s by your side. You are a better woman with him and, yes, you guessed it, he’s still around and going strong. Just please make sure he gets into the habit of trimming those nose hairs; it’s a real turn off.

You think you’ve experienced stress in college and in your career but really it’s been a cakewalk. Wait ‘till you experience your first anxiety attack, which naively you’ll mistake for heart failure, asthma or diabetes.

You will have gray hair, but only a small patch ala Rogue from the X-men.

Good news, that mysterious single thread of hair you periodically find on your neck only when it’s grown three inches is gone. Bad news: it now shows up on your boob (Sorry). However, your body is still a fearless vessel full of energy, longevity and capable of great durance, but these days you rather take a nap than do anything too physical. Don’t be too disappointed it’s only because we’re busy working and caring for our family. Yup! We’re someone’s mom! Scary, I know, but surprisingly we’re pretty good at it. You’ve never been very maternal but trust me that you will be a good mother, maybe not a model parent but loving and very patient.

Motherhood has brought us great happiness in our thirties although we still struggle with the transition, it has been a blessing. I’m sure you are curious about work since career is your biggest priority these days. Work was and still is a great part of our lives, however balancing it with our family has been a challenge. Our professional choices have brought us great joy, we’ve had the opportunity to contribute to many amazing projects, and some not so amazing, however our greatest accomplishments are from the choices we’ve made in our personal life.

I hope this letter serves as a guide as you enter into your thirties and gives you a bit of perspective about the choices ahead of you.

Continue to follow your heart, stay close to family and friends because they will last and don’t lose your sense of humor, it’s your best attribute.

By the way, you are pregnant! So lay off the vino you sexy vixen!

Oh, and one last thing, dye your hair black; it really brings out the green in our eyes.

Best,

Your Future 38-Year-Old Self

About Veronica:

A professional Writer, Producer, Entrepreneur & Proud Mommy, Mrs. Garcia began her career as a music journalist and has produced many projects for film, video and the World Wide Web. The child of Argentine immigrants born in New York City, Mrs. Garcia was raised in the multi-cultural city of Miami. Being the only female in a middle class family of five has contributed to her keen sense of intuition and self-confidence. Veronica attributes her always optimistic disposition to her immigrant mother, who always encouraged her to see the good in all people and situations. You can read all about her adventures in motherhood, marriage, TV production & cooking on her blogs: http://dwfsupperclub.tumblr.com and http://myhyphenatedlife.tumblr.com.

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