Letter to My 12-Year-Old Self

Good morning! I've been thinking about writing a letter to my younger self for a while, and one of my new favorite bloggers, AccordingToLara, inspired me to finally do it.

Dear 12-year-old Kinsey,

Hi! It's you in 12 years. Happy birthday! Enjoy your Harry Potter themed party--it's less cool to have a Harry Potter party when you're 24!

In six days, there is going to be a lot of confusion in the 2000 election. It's going to take until December to figure out who the president will be. Stop running around burning bridges with people, because Gore loses, and you're only 12. While it's important to be politically active, don't be a jerk about it.

You are about to find out that your dad has to have heart surgery. He and your mom are going to go to Texas for the surgery and leave your with your grandparents. He ends up being just fine!

In a year, you're going to move to Vanuatu. It's going to be scary and lonely, but you get to live right by the beach. Enjoy it while you're there. Don't stress out about what's happening back home, live in the moment. Breathe in every breath filled with the salty air and relaxed atmosphere; your life is going to change more than you can imagine when you move home.

You'll move back to the States when you're 16. You're going to feel incredibly out of place and do really terrible, self-destructive things to try to make it better. You won't listen to this, because you won't even understand it right now and when you do understand it you'll think you know better, but keep eating.

Also, be prepared for a relationship that will change your life. You will not be able to trust any man again for years because of this trusted adult who will take advantage of you. Keep going to your therapy sessions even though they open wounds you don't even want to remember. They will help, I promise.

When you're in college, you're going to vote in your first presidential election. Don't worry; your guy wins this time! Your parents will move to Ethiopia. Sounds like a long way away, huh? But don't worry; they come back after only seven months. They come back because your dad has to have heart surgery again, but just like last time, he's fine. :)

You're going to end up getting fibromyalgia. Doctors don't officially know what causes it, but I think the previous paragraphs explain the reason you get it. Keep fighting. It is so hard but you'll get better, because you don't have to fight alone. The most wonderful man asks you to marry him when you're 23 in your favorite place in the world: the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone.

Recognize this? It's where you go with your class three years in a row for Expedition: Yellowstone! You end up falling in love with this valley.

The ring is perfect.

You're going to work on the Obama campaign in 2012. I actually can't tell you how it turns out; the election is tomorrow! But I can tell you that this is the first time you've listened to my advice about not being a jerk to the other candidate. :)

You and your sister get to see Barack Obama in person! Oh--and you get glasses. You feel like you're going through a midlife crisis at first, but you do get used to them.

You're going to be just fine. Live in the moment and savor every day. Remember that your greatest asset is your heart, not your brain. You can empathize to the nth degree if you let yourself. Get that brain out of the way--you overuse it way too much! :)

Engagement photos! You're going to meet him more than three years before you start dating. Don't tell him, though!

You also fall in love with shoes.

You get two amazing kittens who love napping on you!

Love,

24-year-old You

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

DNC Speeches and Wolf Hunting

What a night at the DNC last night! I was so thrilled to be watching the speeches! I'm not going to go really in depth on anything said, but I am going to post links to four speeches I thought were fantastic! I could write ten posts on these speeches--they were exactly what this 2012 campaign needed. As a friend put it this morning, "Michelle may have just won the election for [Barack]." :) I hope so!

Illinois House Candidate Tammy Duckworth's Speech -- Tammy is an Iraq veteran who lost both legs after the helicopter she was piloting was hit by enemy rockets. Great message, good delivery.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's Speech -- Governor Patrick is the kind of speaker who will bring Republicans to the left, in my opinion. He has the same kind of tone as every speaker at the RNC last week had: this is our policy and we're not changing it. I don't totally agree with that way of conveying a message, but it seems to be very popular among Republican voters.
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro's Speech -- Keynote speaker Mayor Castro. What to say about him...Castro 2016! That might be premature; he doesn't have any Congressional experience yet...Castro 2020! I adored his speech. He is so charismatic; he reminded me of a young Obama at the 2004 DNC giving the keynote address. Hmm...foreshadowing?
First Lady and Mom-in-Chief Michelle Obama's Speech -- She absolutely nailed it! I want her for another four years! She can connect so well to the audience, and by this morning, Obama was back in favor among women voters! I could go on and on about Michelle; she is truly the largest asset to the Obama campaign.

In other news, this story came up today. It is about how wolves are being taken off the endangered species list in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming and, come October, they will be allowed to be shot on sight outside Yellowstone National Park. I am furious about this! I spent a few days every spring in Yellowstone with my family while I was growing up in Montana. Some of my best memories include these absolutely majestic animals. In fact, this summer when I was in Yellowstone and got engaged on the Lamar River, it was a wolf that we saw first after we got back in the car and were leaving the Lamar Valley.

It has taken us so long to get to this point of having a good number of wolves again! Before 1978, when grey wolves were put on the endangered species list, they were hunted nearly to extinction! I understand that cattle need to be protected and I also am aware that many wolves in one area will completely decimate a food chain, and then they themselves will die. However, according to the NPS site, the wolf population outside of Yellowstone has decreased 60% in only five years. There is less food for them outside the park (due to declining elk populations), which is why wolves kill livestock. While there was a bit of a decline inside the park, the wolves there have bison as an additional food source. In Wyoming there are 270 outside Yellowstone and about 100 inside; if every wolf was relocated so that they were inside the park, that would not work. The bison and elk populations in the park would crash.

Here's what I think should happen: if a wolf kills something you own (cow, child, dog, sheep, etc), you should be able to shoot it. I do not think it's okay to shoot a wolf on sight, though. Just because you see a wolf pack running across the valley does not mean the wolves are going to kill anything. If, for some reason, a wolf pack decides to den near your house or ranch but hasn't killed anything, you should have the option of asking for them to be humanely relocated. In my opinion, this is going to become a trophy race and the wolf population is going to plummet, yet again, and they will have to be placed back on the endangered species list. Seems to me like taking them off and then putting them back on is a waste of taxpayers' money. For everyone back in Montana reading this, please say something to your state senators and representatives! I, myself, will be writing to Gov. Schweitzer.

Montana State Legislators with Contact Info
Gov. Schweitzer Contact Info

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi