Day 6: Dear Carolina

Dear Future Carolina

I hope this letter finds you in a good and happy place in our life; how are you? I hope you’re doing well. Are you a pediatrician or an actress? I’m not sure if you remember but when you were in high school, those were the only things you ever saw yourself doing, you didn’t want to be anything else at all. Wherever you are in life right now, I hope you’re not sacrificing who you are or who you were for anything and I mean anything. I hope you’re satisfied with who you are and where you are, but most importantly, I hope you’re happy with the decisions it took to get you to where you are right now.

Are you married? Are you single? If you are married, do you have any kids yet? Are you still the same Jesus fanatic that you were when you were 15? We’re doing pretty good right now. I've just started my Sophomore year in high school, and I have a lot of work to do at the moment, but I took the time to write this because I know that it’s important to put us first before anything else, so that’s what I’m doing.

As I’m sitting here writing this, I’m trying to look around for some poetic inspiration to write for this, but the truth is that there is none, sometimes there is none, and sometimes there is no deep, hidden meaning to things, I hope that you’re not wasting your time trying to fit in again and trying to read between the lines.

I pray that we’ve found our people because you and I both know that our people right now maybe aren’t the best people suited for us. I hope that they laugh at all of your stupid little jokes and sing along with you or dance with you when nobody else will. I hope that they want to make plans with you and text in all caps when you are, and I hope that you found someone that you can bring your darkness to and help pull you out of it even when you feel like you’re at your lowest. I hope that you get used to that feeling of mattering to someone. We’ve always just been scared of being too weird for people and not fitting in, we’ve always been scared that we would be too much, too passionate, too loud for people that they wouldn’t want to be friends anymore and that we’d be alone but I pray for the day that we get to have someone to call our best friend.

How much have we grown mentally and physically? Right now, as a 15-year-old, you’d expect us to be super insecure or in a bad mental spot, but realistically, we’re doing just fine, I hope that we still don’t let people get to us or bring us down and that somewhere deep down even though we’re older, we never changed the parts that made us be us and that we’re still unapologetically us. I hope that college wasn’t too hard on us and that maybe we made some friends there too. How was medical school? If that’s what you ended up even doing, more like what roles have we gotten so far?  Have we met our celebrity crush yet? That last one doesn’t really matter… too much. 

All this to say, I hope we’re living a life that makes us proud no matter where we end up. Keep living for Jesus and not for the world. Whatever new adventures come towards us, let’s embrace them with an open heart and clear mind.

SO SO MUCH LOVE,

Carolina

8/25/24

About the Author

Carolina Alemán, High School Sophomore & Somos Escritoras Alumna

She is a sophomore in high school who has been a part of Somos Escritoras since 2020. She lives with her three other sisters and parents, who she credits with pushing her to pursue her dreams and work hard. In the future, she hopes to continue writing, go on to medical school, and become a pediatrician so she can help kids and their families through sickness and health. She hopes you enjoy her writing!

About the Blog Series

The #LatinaLuminaries Blog Series by Somos Escritoras. The series was created to illuminate the wisdom, experiences, voices, and truths of Latina women and girls and the broader Latinx community. The blog series features writing from escritoras (participants) and writing mentors from Somos Escritoras Latinx Writing Workshop. Published Latina authors, writers, poets, and illustrators who presented at our workshop also contributed to the blog series.