You’re walking down the street on a crisp, fall afternoon. Birds are chirping, the sun is bright, and the leaves that have left their home on the branches of trees now crunch under your feet with each step. Nothing can interrupt this seemingly-perfect day.
Suddenly, a loud noise that almost sounds like SHOOM cracks the air, and you see a silver car appear literally out of nowhere, almost like it’s…..
Wait, did I just describe the time-traveling DeLorean from the ‘Back to the Future’ movie franchise?
Yes I did.
Doc Brown himself steps out of the car and spots you. After some general pleasantries (and undoubtedly some questions you have for him about time-traveling), he offers you the chance to encounter your younger self and give advice in order to perhaps alter any future decisions or life patterns.
Would you be up for it?
That’s a tough question to answer if I’m being honest. I happen to believe that our life experiences are what makes as whole as human beings, and that certainly includes the good, the bad, and the embarrassingly ugly times in our lives. Are there mistakes that I wish I could go back and correct? Of course, but I also think you learn from your mistakes and become a well-rounded and more-informed individual *because* of them.
However, that all being said, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t consider going back in time and telling Younger, Not-As-Handsome, Less Mature Derek (or is that More Mature?) about a few things he should know as he grows older.
I also think some of these points are things that I will in fact be telling and teaching my future children, if only so they can avoid some embarrassment or have a better chance at connecting with their family.
Advice to my younger self and/or future Ruttle offspring….
1. Spend time with both of your parents. Do the boring stuff. Help them with chores. Ask them questions about their lives. None of us truly know how long we have on this earth. I may have (technically) been an adult of 28 years old when my dad died four years ago, but I’ve always felt there was so much more I needed to learn from him.
2. I know it’s tough, but try not to lose your normal brain function when you start noticing girls and developing crushes. I hate to break this to you kid, but when you’re 10 years old and you think the key to getting a girlfriend is telling your crush that you’re her “slave” and willing to do whatever she tells you, you’re basically just a doormat and comic relief. PS. For the love of God, DO NOT EAT DIRT if your crush commands you to!
3. Never trust a psychic who hasn’t won the lottery at least once. Also, don’t believe in that crap.
4. If you’re at a party following the big football game in high school and you see your crush with her then-boyfriend, avoid the booze because you’ll just end up making some drunk, embarrassing confession to one of her friends about your feelings for said crush, at which point the friend will of course inform your crush, and the rest of high school will be awkward as hell between the two of you. Wait, you think I’m talking from experience? Um…….no. Moving on…
5. The friends you have when you’re very young will become strangers when you’re older. Life just has a way of breaking certain people apart. It happens, and it’s not necessarily bad. On top of that, a lot of the friends you make in high school will also fall by the wayside when you become a young adult. Again, this is completely okay. School by its very nature literally brings you together for five days a week for an entire school year, so relationships will of course form, but you’ll find that a number of close people will eventually move away from your circle in the years after graduation.
6. Say what you mean, and mean what you say.
7. Take pictures. Write things down. Keep a journal.
8. Learn to cook, and learn to cook well.
9. Enjoy the little things about life and live in the moment. Don’t pre-plan everything and just take some things as they come, because some of the best moments in life are the ones that happen out of the blue. Put the screens down and look up once in a while at life going on around you.
10. Be an old soul. There aren’t many of us left.
For this week, that’s been the Ruttle Report.
