to the graduating class of 2011

last week my little sister graduated from high school. she is now the same age i was when i met Sam. and now i am old and married and a mom. ha!

my sister is a smartypants and was honored as her high school's salutatorian (second to the valedictorian). she even gave a speech at graduation. impressive.

while her speech was as complicated and hard to understand as the teenagers listening are themselves, since my sister likes to cram in as many big words as she can into everything she writes, she exuded confidence and poise. i was proud of her.

it made me think if i happened to be famous (or smart) and was asked to give a speech to a bunch of promising young minds, high school or college, what would i say?

i think the phrase, "follow your dreams" is incredibly vague and not at all helpful advice. if i followed my dreams, i mean, it just wouldn't make any logical sense. i dream about eating ice cream all day and that animals and toys really talk when humans aren't looking. i dream about living in paradise and not doing anything but laying out, getting massages and facials, and again, eating ice cream all day. not helpful.

here's a few speech-worthy things that come to mind:

• don't be afraid to try new things, and if you find you're good at something, keep at it and maybe you'll end up liking it enough to make a career out of it. if not, keep on exploring and discovering.

• think about others before yourself. our world today is more and more about self-indulgence and self-gratification, and it's quite sickening to me. from Facebook that encourages self-promotion (totally guilty here) to quietly growing trends like deciding not to have children because it's inconvenient.

• trust in love.
  
  
• ladies, you deserve to be career-focused. but do so with grace and with a cheerful attitude. it's still a man's world out there, no matter what the statistics say, and it's all too easy to turn into a bitch.
  
  
• guys, you were born to be men. don't turn your back on that kind of responsibility.
  
  
• be nice to everyone.
  
  
• recycle. and hope for the day organic produce becomes affordable. until then, don't be afraid of fast food every now and again.
  
  
• travel as much as you can, it's worth the investment. to me, life is about taking adventures, there is a whole world out there to learn about and experience!
  
  
• it's okay to fail. everyone does. get up, dust yourself off, put a smile on your face, admit when you're wrong, learn from the mistakes, and get up and going with your life.
  
  
• live in a big city at least once. there's nothing like the energy and excitement and the "living in the moment" feeling you get when you live in a looming metropolis. i've lived in LA and Chicago and loved every minute. while we're settled in suburbia now, and it's where we belong, there is just something magical about living in the city. you feel like you know stuff. you feel like you're part of something big and important. you feel like you know what it's like to be in the movies. you feel like your clothes look better, your shoes are cuter. the food tastes better. sounds a little weird, i know. it's hard to explain.

what would you say?