Sixteen Doesn’t Last Forever

Dear 16 year old Kat,

16 sucks. I know it does and I’m hear to tell you that you won’t be 16 forever. In fact, there will come a time when it will be a distant memory.

I know you are afraid of everything- talking to people, finding a job, your future, guys….. It’s all going to happen. All in its own sweet time. I’m not going to say that any of it will be easy and parts will be messy and hard.

Any day now you’re going to meet this guy and he is going to push you to the edge of your comfort zone and beyond. He will scare the living crap out of you and you are going to be convinced that he’s “the one”. You will feel this way for a long time…..but he’s not. He will be serving a much more important role in your life. See, he’s the one who will introduce you to the man you will marry, the father of your children. So, prepare yourself. You’re in for a wild ride with this one.

The thought of having children terrifies you even though you know you want them. You will have those children you so desperately want because your love of children will be greater than your fear of the unknown. You will be blessed with wonderful kids. Try to cherish every moment because those years will fly right past you and one day you will be looking into the eyes of your son’s newborn baby, looking so much like your son’s, and you will wonder where all those years went.

You will be facing some big challenges ahead and most will come through your children. Try to slow down, and don’t sweat the small stuff. And in the event that you succumb, don’t worry. When those grandkids come along, you will find it much easier to let those little things go. And while you are worrying about teaching your kids all those important life lessons, don’t be too surprised at how many they will teach you!

Try to step out of your comfort zone. I know it’s scary but like it or not, Rob (the one who is not the one) will make it a habit to push you. You might as well get used to it….

Write. Write. Write. It will be hard at times. Kids take up a lot of time and it’s really easy to lose your own identity when you are caught up in the Mom thing. But try to find the time to write- something. anything.

Learn to say NO and mean it. You don’t have to do every favor someone asks of you. You don’t have to go along with everything people say. Don’t be afraid to say no. And if the day comes, that someone doesn’t listen to you, remember it’s not your fault.

Try not to beat yourself up. At least not too much, okay? Just do your best and learn to LET IT GO!

Be true to yourself. Listen to your gut instinct- it will never lead you wrong. You will find your voice and when it matters, you will speak up.

You will probably end up someplace completely different than you expect, but that’s okay. It will be a pretty cool place.

I will leave you with two different quotes that come to mind.

From John Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane”-

“Hold on to sixteen as long as you can
Changes come around real soon
Make us women and men.”

AND-

Christopher Robin to Pooh-

“Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

Love, your much older self

This post is part of Kat Got Your Tongue Challenge.

Kat Got Your Tongue- Sweet 16

Write a letter to your 16 year old self. What would you say, if you had the chance?

Welcome to the Kat Got Your Tongue Challenge!

Guidelines-

⋅This is a just-for-fun challenge- everyone’s a winner here!

⋅Each Monday morning I will post a prompt in the form of a word, phrase, photo…..

⋅Share your thoughts in any form you like. There are no limits- you can take a silly view, rant, post a photo, write a poem…..

⋅Create a pingback to the challenge post or share your link in the comments section.

⋅Remember to tag your post with “katgotyourtongue” so other writers can find your post!

⋅If you would like, you can use the “Kat Got Your Tongue Challenge” badge in your post.

⋅Have fun!

Kat

“My name is Kat and I can’t stop collecting-“

See Speak Hear

And so it all begins…

You don’t see too many cats sitting up like this.

My 2nd Cat-

And another

This might come as a surprise to you but I don’t collect cats. Not anymore. I began collecting cats when I was 10 years old. The green blown glass cat (the middle cat on the top row) was my first. About five years ago I let it be known that while I appreciated all the cute cat gifts, I was also kind of over it and all catted out. I went so far as to pack the majority of my cat collection away. And yet when I looked around today, I spotted at least 12 cats lurking around the shelves of my house. Hmmm

Growing up, in addition to the cats that I no longer collect, I also had post card and salt & pepper shaker collections. I haven’t seen the post cards in years but what remains of my s&p’s is safely packed away in a container with some other cherished childhood keepsakes.

The truth- I’m addicted to buying notebooks, journals and planners. I cannot help myself. I use 3 subject notebooks for my writing notes, meeting notes, website notes…..random notes. Each one has it’s own special notebook.  I have way more brand new blank journals than any one person should have. I just picked up two new journals that I just could not resist. I’m drawn to that aisle in every store I enter.

Random journals I’ve found

Just some of the 3 subject notebooks that I use for everything!

My latest purchases!!!

My current notebook

I have no plans for these journals and notebooks. I could never buy another one and I could easily satisfy all my writing needs with my collection. But something tells me my journal collecting days are far from over. 🙂

Then I have a few smaller collections or maybe they are pre-collections- such as the variety of colored cut glass bowls, plates….. that I seem to have purchased while I wasn’t consciously collecting them. Or the cute little tea bag holders…is 3 (oops, make that 4- I just found another one) considered a collection? Oh, and did I mention that I like Pyrex? What do you think? (I swear my house doesn’t look like a scene out of an episode of Hoarders!)

Just between you and me, I don’t want to take a closer look around my house or I’m afraid I might stumble onto more collections…..

Hi! My name is Kat and I collect… collections!!!

What do you collect?

Kat Got Your Tongue- What do you collect?

Are you a collector? Is there that one thing that if you see the newest or the coolest, you just have to have it? Or are you a minimalist and like things as sparse and simple as possible? Did you collect things as a child? If so, what was it? Do you have a picture of your collection? Please share, if you do!

 A thank you shout out goes to-

Hugh at Hugh’s Views & News, who recommends Twitter. You can find him on Twitter @RobertHughes05

and Lesboi at Dawn to Don also uses Tumblr- donshelby

And if you would like to help me build up my (non-existent) friend list on Facebook, feel free to send me a friend request – you can find me at Kat Carpita……..

Hashtags Scare Me

When I began my blog, I wasn’t even thinking about social media. I had personal Facebook and Twitter (yes, my Twitter-phobia out dates my blogging experience, Hugh!) accounts. While I keep close touch of my Facebook, Twitter is often neglected for months on end. The topic of using social media along with blogging presented me with a problem that is not unique to just me.

-How to use social media when you’re using a pen name……

FACEBOOK-

Originally I created a new account with my name- Kat Carpita… The only glitch. I didn’t have any friends that I could “friend” without giving away my name. One of my reasons for using a pen name was to protect Kris’s identity. Pretty quickly I felt like I had split personalities. I didn’t want to make up information because I’m me whether I’m using this name or that.  I was stumped. It’s kind of hard to say, “Hey, wanna be my friend? By the way, this isn’t my real name….. (I’m still stumped….and friendless.) Maybe there’s a special facebook group I can join for writers using pen names who want to make friends….. Anyone know of one?

So I set that aside and created a Facebook Page for Dandelion Fuzz. That has gone pretty slow because I can’t really promote the page on my personal Facebook- same problem…… Am I the only one who has a problem with this? Maybe that’s another group that I need….

PINTEREST

I LOVE Pinterest!! Absolutely love it. And since I love it, I figured I might as well create an account under my name. I’m sure it’s another avenue to get my blog out there. I just haven’t set aside the time to figure out how to do it. So until then, my Pinterest boards mostly have to do with writing, quotes, prompts and things along that line. My blog posts have not made it into the Pinterest world yet…. Is anyone using Pinterest? And if so, how do you use it in a blogging/writing capacity? I have no problem managing Pinterest on a personal level. I can spend hours pinning away.

dum de dum dum

TWITTER @katcarpita

I have a confession to make. Hashtags scare me. They scare me to the extent that I’m not even sure if they are one or two words. I thought they were one word but I see I have a zig zaggy red line under “hashtags” which tells me I’ve spelled it wrong?  So I really need to get a handle on the #’s. And yes, I don’t understand Twitter and I openly admit that I’ve spent more time complaining that I don’t get it than actually trying to get it.

For such a quiet person, I find myself exceeding the word limit most of the time and spending way too much time trying to re-word what I have to say. I seem to go in stops and starts. I know, I know. I can see you all shaking your heads, thinking, come on, Kat, it’s not that hard. You’ll have to trust me when I say it’s frustrating for me because I know I should understand it. 🙂 It’s causing me to have flashbacks to my high school data processing class that I nearly failed. (The ONLY class that I got a D in.)

My first step is going to be to go back to the beginning and read up on Twitter as if I had never seen it before. Then I’ll head back to my badly neglected Twitter account and try my hand at tweeting and hashtagging and interacting with the Twitting…..Tweeting world. (I will try not to drive Hugh crazy with a million questions, too!)

I’m going to take another look at Hugh’s – An Insider’s Guide to Planet Blog and More Blogging Tips From The Insider On Planet Blog . While I’m revisiting helpful blog posts, I’m also going to head over to Ronovan’s place to check out the archives in his Twitter Category. If you have Twitter issues, like I do, or are just looking for some good solid blogging tips, check these guys out!