Don’t worry about that horrendous school principal who makes you sit in her office every day because your naturally curly hair is outside of school rules. Secretly she is jealous because of her mousy bob and anyway your hair goes straight by some miracle when you turn 23 and the torture she puts you through makes you a fighter. This is important as you end up fighting for your success all through your 20’s – so these are all good lessons, even though right now being in the principal’s office isn’t that flash. When you leave school you dye your hair red anyway, just to fade into the background a little bit more and what you don’t realise is that dying your hair red has major significance as there ends up being a lot of RED in your life.
Stick to your guns, don’t conform, not that you ever have and continue to speak up – it serves you well later in life, even if your husband probably wishes sometimes you didn’t have such an opinion. What you don’t know is that your voice will end up representing other company’s brands across Australia.
Save yourself the dramas and don’t carry on too much when your mum won’t let you dance in Disneyland in Florida after you have been accepted to perform over holidays. It actually doesn’t go on to ruin your career on the stage as you may think. When your mum pulls you out of cheerleading this year because they tell you, you have to have thinner legs, don’t be too upset with her, she is protecting you. That is your body shape and unless you get leg extensions in Russia, which we do later contemplate for 1 second, but I hear is very painful, you are going to have to live with them. I wish I could tell you that by 30 you are happy with this, you will always admire long legged beauties, but curves are always in… in my mind anyway. As your mum says, tall people can never be cute, but short people can be cute and sexy! Also you marry a tall man, so hopefully your kids will be tall too. Boobs, hips and big hair will be your thing and believe me you play up to it.
Do us both a favour and pay more attention in home economics. Being able to hem pants or boil an egg does come in handy. I wouldn’t know because I still can’t do it, but I imagine it does. It would be wonderful if we could cook a meal one day and not make anyone sick. However, that muesli slice you make this year that makes the family ill is pretty much indicative of the next 15 years.
Stop stressing out about exams – you just need to get through school and then your real life begins, where you can be the real you and people love that. That teacher who gave you a B+ instead of an A for your final in English in two years, doesn’t really know what she is talking about. I could tell you not to cry about it, but you will anyway. You end up topping journalism at uni when you graduate and are one for a few people who actually gets jobs in the media straight away, so what did she know anyway?
So by now you know you don’t end up being an actress on Broadway as you imagine, which now makes me sad that maybe you gave up your dream too soon? But we both know you can never just coast, you are always ready to climb the next mountain and achieve the next goal – journalism ends up being that next mountain. You quickly figure out that a life of an actress may see you poor with long under arm hair for many years before you make it and you have the taste for travel and a shoe habit that becomes a problem later in life, but by then you can afford it…..A little tip, when your husband asks if they are new, say no you have had them for months, but just haven’t worn them. None the less, it isn’t Broadway, but you end up owning a PR agency in Brisbane and Sydney – which probably has more drama occur than what you see on the stage anyway. You don’t know what PR is? Neither did I and I/ you studied journalism. You work in the media only for a few years when you open your business. Turns out no one really knows what PR is till 2005 anyway and then it becomes really popular and your business grows tremendously!
You may not get to star on Broadway, but you visit New York City heaps. You are going to work hard and see the world. We will go to places that we had never considered at 15 – Vietnam, Mexico, China, Thailand, Hong Kong, Hawaii all over the US and Europe. So remember that when you are the last one in the office every night and every weekend, your hard work does pay off.
Don’t worry about some of those horrible girls at school either. Many of them contact you via facebook years later to apologise and congratulate you your business… And you know that older girl Rodica who is in year 12 now, you pass her sometimes on the stairs and she is on the gymnastics team? You two end up working side by side in your business and are a fantastic team. Tell her to be nice to the younger kid when you see her, it would be in her best interest!
You won’t be surprised to know that many of your friends from school you are still friends with. In fact two of them are your bridesmaids when you get married. That new girl who only started school recently from drama class, Leisa Turner, well you two go on to be Drama captains in year 12. This year you two will star and direct The Year 10 Arts Nights, which cements your friendship that proves the test of time and distance. A little tip, when you go on the Duke of Edinburgh Camp this year…why you two do this still baffles me…you will never use a compass in your life, or ever carry a backpack ( god forbid) and you still can’t cook, so cooking around a camp fire also wont in handy – Anyway Leisa isn’t being dramatic when she says she is cold….she gets emergency evacuated in the morning and your left in the tent on your own. Pretend you are sick too so you can go with her, its hell being left behind to do the hike! PS. You also hate hiking.
Do you remember that girl Jen from year one? You two actually find each other again in a few years and become tremendous friends. You will go in and out of each other’s lives and share parties, dancing, tears, success, failures, break ups, weddings and too many bottles of wine (yeah you drink that now, no more midori and lemonade or Asti Riccadonna…well maybe a little Asti in your 20’s but just when you are with Carlee Miller). And at your recent 30th birthday you will have many of them by your side to mark the occasion and you are now drinking the good French stuff. You meet heaps of beautiful ladies over the next 15 years too – Bianca, Katie, Brooke, Jacqui, Prue, Di and Lily and Tiffany.
And the boy friends…..That BBC boy is the first of many boys and men that you will date and actually the first older boy you dated too – which sets a trend for all the guys similar to your Dad’s age you date over the next 15 years. I know that sounds really gross, but older men ends up being your thing, much to Dad’s disappointment! Each boy friend leads you closer to the right one – trust me and you learn many lessons along the way. Your husband is currently 25 and running night clubs, which does sound pretty cool to a 15 year old, but no point in getting in touch now, he would be arrested for dating you due to the age difference – husbands and boyfriends in jail is never good and you have many more lessons you need to learn before you are ready for him.
You think you have met the love of your life in your early/ mid 20’s and let me tell you he isn’t. I wish I could just tell you to not go there with him and save yourself the heart ache, but you won’t be able to resist the drama of the relationship…and it is something you need to go through. I told you you should never have put Drama Queen on your damn jumper. The biggest lesson you will learn is what you will and won’t accept from a man and his behaviour teaches you this – it is a lesson I know we will always carry.
The right man comes just after him. Watch out for him because you almost set him up with one of your friends, which would have been a mistake. He is new client, who is super funny, comments on all your pink clothes and has a really flash car. He likes to travel, good food and wine (which doesn’t help your curves) and he supports your dream to adopt a baby from overseas. Right now you are looking at babies on orphanage websites and this year you become obsessed with China’s One Child Policy and do a big assignment on it for modern history. Over the next 15 years you will visit orphanages overseas and you and your husband start the very long journey to adopting your own baby. That baby is coming this year….we hope…yes you will be a mum. I wish I could tell you how much this is going to change our lives, but I don’t think I can even comprehend that yet. But what I can say is you will dream of her for a long time and it is a really hard and long road, don’t give up your dream Fleur. Let’s face it you never pick the easy road, we know that so why start now. The easy road will never bring you the rewards you get.
Happiness in a relationship takes work every day, so be careful you don’t focus on your career while your relationships suffers. In a few years Adrienne’s Dad, yes the lovely girl on your debating team, says that when you die you won’t think you should have worked harder, you think you should have spent more time with the people you love. Start actioning this woman.
That saying that you write in everyone’s bday card for the next decade really sums up the next 15 years “reach high for stars lay hidden deep in your soul and dream deep for every dream proceeds the goal”. Keep dreaming Fleursy.
This blog originally featured on the Courier Mail online:
