Maggie Mason: A Letter to your 20 year old self
ByA couple of months ago I met up with Maggie in Chicago. Over glasses of wine she shared some valuable life advice. Not the normal stuff that most people share but the useful things. The tips that no one remembers to tell you.
She taught me how to order a drink if I am ever at an expensive dinner. How to ward off a crazy homeless person if the small town girl in me accidently stares at them. The things you should look for in a man. (not how to find prince charming but how to find a man that is going to mesh well with you). We talked about business, and politics, feminism and young women, parenting and marriage. She reminded me to enjoy my twenty-two year old body because I wouldn’t be in my twenties forever. And taught me how ruffled dresses work miracles for your mid-section.
I soaked up her wisdom and often come back to it when I am getting dressed and pondering if I look ok. And especially when I see a tattooed man across the bar and wonder if I should ask him for his number. (just kidding about that last one…kind of)
I was thrilled when Maggie agreed to write a letter to her 20 year old self:
Dear 20-Something Maggie,
Hello, sweetie. This is just a quick note to say thank you for everything you’re doing for the team.
First, thank you for not filming, photographing, or otherwise recording yourself having sex. Good call. And speaking of sex, your suspicion that you are preternaturally fertile is correct. So thank you for being attentive about birth control.
Thank you for dating mostly kind guys — guys who like their moms, guys who cuddle, guys who don’t upload proof of your sex life to the Internet. I know you worry that you’re too judgmental at times, so go ahead and date the “fun” guy with the excessive Celtic tattoos. Nothing like falling for a guy who provokes bar fights and still lives with his ex-fiance. Go big!
Thank you for not lifting your shirt at a fraternity party where there are cameras present, no matter how awesome the T-shirt on offer. Thank you for mostly avoiding fraternity parties in favor of working late at the paper.
Thank you for working so hard to put yourself through school. Thank you for eating potato chips for breakfast while you still can. Thank you for wearing the tight dress. And shut up — your ass looks amazing.
All my love,
Maggie
Interested in writing a letter to your 20 something self? Girls in their 20′s can use all the advice that they can get. Email it to cassieboorn@gmail.com and I will feature it here.
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Love this. I have such writer’s block/avoidance issues with talking to my 20-something self. Let me get over it and you’ll get your letter. Great job, Cassie and Maggie. :)
Steph
Love it!
What Steph said.
:)
I’ll send over my letter as requested soon<3
(Loving your idea!)
Sara Sophia
Thanks Steph!
Trust me I get it…I avoid talking to my 20 something self every day. ;)
I would love that!
Every girl could use some Sara Sophia advice.
Obviously men with tattoos are bad sorts and must automatically be avoided.
What a great idea — there’s so much I’d like to say. Letter coming soon!
but they seem like a good idea at the time…
This is such an awesome idea! I LOVE IT! Thanks for your comments on the generations night.
[...] Mason wrote a letter to her 20-something self on Cassie Boorn’s blog (here) and I loved the idea. Here’s [...]
Totally want to hear the advice about ordering a drink at an expensive dinner! Great idea though.
It definitely has me thinking “what would I say to my younger self?” and also – what would she think of me? …
[...] of my favorite-est blog writers have been participating in Cassie Boorn’s Letters project, where people write letters [...]
I love every word of this. And the visuals I got. Totally hot.
[...] Ms. Mason talked about “20 things I wish I’d known in my 20′s,” and then “Letter to my 20-year-old-self,” which grew out of a project by another blogger named Cassie Boorn, in which she asked other mommy [...]
I love this. Reminds me of writing assignments you get when you’re young, except kind of the opposite. Guess this means we’re old enough now to write to our younger selves–geez! In any case, I am most definitely going to take on this challenge. Thank you for sharing it!
[...] blogs and I would also like to share it here. I found it first on Meg Fee’s blog . This Letter to my 20 year old self by Maggie Mason is so great! It is on the blog Cassie Boorn . This blog has a lot of different [...]
http://jenniferwisniewski.blogspot.com/2010/06/twenty-one-things-id-like-to-tell-my-17.html
[...] COUPLE WEEKS AGO, IN MY LETTER TO 20-YEAR-OLD ME, I WAS CONGRATULATING MYSELF ON NOT HAVING BEEN PHOTOGRAPHED TOPLESS. A FEW DAYS LATER, I REALIZED [...]