2014 Joe's letter to 2003 Joe
Hey Hey Joey Mac,
You are going to make it. Those sleepless nights were all worth it, man. I know how bad life sucks at times. Even though I have forgotten some of the intricate details, I still remember the hurt. I still remember how intense those feelings felt coursing through my body. No matter how old you get…those feelings will stay with you. That may be a good thing. Sometimes I still need to be reminded of where I came from. I still need to occasionally experience the hurt from the past to remind myself how great I have it now.
Anyway, life is rough for you. I get it. In fact you are going to have to deal with it for a few more years. You are at a point where your world is just all over the place. Every teenager has insane emotions and feelings flowing though them, but you obviously have a lot of external factors adding to your situation. Those factors never go away. Your family life will be unsatisfying for a long time. You will barely have a chica look in your direction until you are like 21. Well, at least one that you did not have to pay to see.
This probably sounds terrible so far. I’m sorry. Although I turn out to be a pretty good writer, my thoughts are crazy jumbled when I have too many thoughts bustling around in my head, but you already know that. The good news is that everything turns out right in the end. Look, I know you spent almost every night praying to God for your life to get better. “Why me?” was a very common catchphrase I had back then and rightfully so, at least from our perspective. The truth is you just needed some time to sort everything out.
You will go through your fair share of twists and turns in college. At first you will make a lot of bad decisions. You will catch a few breaks and finally get a wakeup call sometime in 2004. After that you will slowly settle down and get your life on track.
Life does not turn out the way you envisioned; at least not during college. It does not matter. At first you will regret a few things, but eventually you will take comfort that you made the correct decisions. You saw the big picture all along. Congratulations, you did it!
I will not tell you exactly how it all turns out. The purpose of this letter is just to reassure you that you will be fine. You are going to turn dark for a while. You will have a few scary thoughts, but you will prevail. Keep doing your thing and do not ever change.
Keep it Classic my man! Haha! I know you will!
~Joe
