Well, I wrote this for Creative Writing, and I jsut wanted to see what you guys thought of it

Have fun!

Dearest Grandchild,

I'm guessing that your sixteenth that birthday has come upon you considering that this letter has been opened. But the important thing is that you actually got it and your forgetful mother remembered to give it to you. She really must take after me.

Anyways, I suppose I'll introduce myself now. I am the crazy, eccentric grandmother your father and mother have probably talked about at least a time or two. I do wish I could've seen you with my own two eyes before I left this place, but I suppose God had other things in mind when it came to us meeting. Maybe some other time He'll allow it.

Well, I could attempt to give you some insights, tell you what to do, how to live your life and so on. But taking into account that the woman who tripped up stairs and ran into stationary objects would be giving you advice on how to walk life's journey seems a bit silly, so I'm not going to. My life was plotted out for me and I lived under routine, and I felt as though I wasn't really living. I never was doing what I was made for. Hopefully you are though, and you've put everyone else's opinion of you aside and have realized that the only opinion of you that matters is yours and God's. But I can't change your life, and I can't tell you how to live. I can only tell you what I've learned. What to do with it, well that's your choice.

I hope that by now in your life you have learned much, and I'm not just referring to knowledge that comes out of schoolbooks. That type of knowledge is just about getting the right answer and erasing the wrong to re-do it, it's not wisdom. Wisdom is when you make the wrong answer and can't erase it, so you have no other choice than to learn from it. Unless you're hardheaded like myself and have to make a mistake one time too many to realize you went wrong somewhere. Hopefully that gene wasn't passed.

I hope you have known the sweat and toil of a hard day's work in the sun but also the sweet and blessed shade underneath a tree, remembering that even the worst sunburns fade with time. I pray that you open your heart to who you are, not who everyone thinks you should be. Just be sure to be prepared for what might find there. Take people for who they are, not who they want you to see and you'll find what true friendship is. Love no matter what the circumstance, someone you never dreamed of loving might just surprise you. If you don't believe me, ask your grandfather.

One of the most important pieces of advice I'll give is one I hope you won't have to use until you're older, but you might as well learn it now. Four simple words: happy spouse, happy house.

Once again, if you don't believe me, ask your grandfather.

I caution you, Grandchild, to always forgive. You never know what kind words and a true conscience can do to the scars people hold. Give your whole self all the time, so people will always see all of you. Be honest but spare brutality, Lord knows all of us need a compliment every now and then. However, be sure to never leave things unspoken. Be generous with your money and give it to a person who needs it and not to the stocks, for I have found that money is something you'll never have enough of no matter how hard you try. Eventually, you'll come to learn to have what you want, but want what you have. Don't waste your time looking back on anything either, you'll end up missing what's going by you.

Grandchild, no matter what you do, where you go, or who you meet, I ask that you remember one thing for me.

Life is not about who you knew or what you did, but it's about how you lived.

With Love,

Your Grandmother