Dear Chantelle,

Right now your life seems pretty unbearable. I know that you feel like things will stay this way forever. I know how hard it is to get up in the morning and go to school sometimes. I know that you are disappointed that Mom and Dad have stopped coming to check on you at night because you've cried yourself to sleep so many times that now it's become commonplace. Right now, you don't think anyone loves you. You feel uncomfortable wherever you go. You have no idea what your life will be like in highschool, or even next year, and that scares you.

I have news. You survive this year. It is so, so hard, but you do. You may think that this year will ruin your life, but actually, it blesses it. You will learn and grow in so many ways. This year will suck, but it gives you something pretty awesome in return- empathy and compassion. In time, you'll be able to use what's happening to you right now to help other people.

There's something else I should tell you. You know how sometimes you sit in your room alone, and you imagine that your life is like those movies where the main character has lots of friends and they hang out and borrow clothes and have parties all the time? It will take a lot of waiting, but you are going to have that. You will get hurt too, but you'll make friends that will stay with you for a long time. You are going to meet some of the most incredible people in the next few years. I promise. And, you're going to learn that people love you. You're going to learn that not everyone is like the kids you go to school with now. You will learn to trust again. You're going to become a person that people like to be around, although it will take awhile for you to believe that.

Everything works out in the end. Believe me. Hang in there!
Love, Chantelle

P.S. You should probs learn to sew. It might come in handy with avoiding a certain pajama pants disaster in your ninth grade Home Ec class.

I knooooooow. It's late. Whatevs. I only have one class tomorrow and it's at one. I ain't even worried.


Here is my Friday To-Do List:
1. Fold and put away laundry
2. Learn all the lyrics to Beyonce's "Crazy in Love"
3. Start essay. Or at least read the pieces for the essay. Or at least pick the topic.
4. Pick outfit for Wind Orchestra concert
5. Fill out some more job applications
6. Try and find a home for the dozen cupcakes sitting on my table that I randomly baked today.

I think that's all the important stuff....

 Yesterday I had my first REAL sushi! I had had it before, but we had made it for a youth group activity, and it just had crab meat in it. I liked this item on the menu:

Happy Things:
-Today was Adventure Wednesday. Excellent lunch and company were involved.
-Purchased tickets for more concerts today!
-The Crazy Week of Music is half over!
-I had a good hair day. I missed my bus in the morning, so I went back home and did my hair for an hour. haha.
-My parents might come visit soon!
-chats with friends
-Our choir director Ruth brought oreos for us to secretly eat during dress rehearsal. But I didn't eat mine secretly. I wanted to make the other kids jealous.
-My new record for minesweeper on hard is 2 minutes and 44 seconds. Previous record = 8 minutes, 42 seconds. Win.

Last Tuesday, I was out for cocoa with some of my friends, and my friend Nicole mentioned that she had been invited to an ABC Cabaret at the school on Saturday, and asked if I would come help her make an outfit. ABC, as I found out, does NOT stand for "already been chewed" (thankfully), but rather "Anything but clothes". That meant crafts! I love crafts!  I instantly agreed and we excitedly grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and began drawing out our ideas. The boys kind of scoffed at us for thinking we could make a dress that fancy out of basically garbage. That didn't sit well with me. I was determined to prove them wrong.

This weekend I went over to her house and we began the project. The only requests she had were 1)She wanted it to be blue and 2) She wanted it classy. (As if I would let her go looking anything but... ha.) We ended up making her dress entirely out of plastic bags, and I think it turned out quite well!

So... yeah. We had so much fun! AND we actually did it like we said we would. Take that boys!

 Then I glanced at the Red Cross display right beside the cranes. This quote on it made me so sad. I figured that even if I couldn't do much, I could help fold a few cranes.