Get plenty of
calcium.
Be kind to your
knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll
marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either.
Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the
greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance, even
if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions,
even if you don't follow them.
Do not read
beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know
your parents. You never know when they'll be
gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past
and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that
friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle,
because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New
York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain
inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize
that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your
elders.
Don't expect
anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either
one might run out.
Don't mess too
much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose
advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.
Advice is a
form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts,
and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me
on the sunscreen.
