Dear 17 year old me,

I wandered through the car lot the other day, bright eyed and bushy tailed, eager to find the car that I would call my own. As I skipped through the shiny vehicles the reality of the monetary world slowly edged itself into my thoughts. Aggressively I pushed it out of my head by driving said shiny vehicles and trying out all of their buttons with my mom and sister. The slick, lovely smelling, car salesman didn't make it easier while he gently persuaded the three of us to "check out a few more. You are more than welcome to drive any one that you want! I'll go get them if you'd like". "Yes, please. I'll try that one", was my repeated reply. When I hopped into the gorgeous black, Chevrolet Equinox my heart skipped a beat. The chair hugged my back perfectly and the steering wheel felt like silk in my hands. It drove like a dream, smoothly taking the curves, gracefully coming to a stop, it even had a child lock button on the drive panel, A BUTTON! My comment to dear Jeffy the salesman upon our return consisted of three simple words, "I'm in love".

The following ten minutes were some of the most depressing I have had in quite some time. A blur of pages flew by my face engulfed in a swirl of numbers that were too large to be accepted in the common world from which I hail. I sullenly looked at the now less slick but still as lovely smelling salesman as the realization hit us both at the same time, this was a deal that would not take place. Sadly we all stood, shook hands, and left the lot without the car that I fell in love with so quickly.

Reflecting on my recent heartbreak I pondered ways that I could repair the empty hole in my thumper. Clearly the answer is a brand new car. Forget the rest of the hullabaloo that constantly harasses my brain. My other bills and extreme amounts of student loan debts that still needed paid meant nothing to me. UGH, if only I could just skip them and buy a car! My next thought was more realistic, time travel. Obviously I just needed to write a letter to my 17 year old self to explain to her the situation and then travel it back to her. Excellent.

The letter is as follows:

Dear 17 year old Whitney,

Wake UP! This is your 24 year old future self writing, listen carefully. Your future happiness rests on you comprehending this letter.

First, I am going to need you to get back into the habit of not wearing pajamas everywhere, including to school. Yes, it's comfy. Yes, school is early and you still want to sleep. However, you have a hard time kicking the habit later in life.

Now, your job. The cleaners is a lovely place to work, if you would work more hours. Stop giving your shifts away! Who cares if you have to open? Nobody comes in until 10 anyway, you know you can sleep in the back until then. At least until Dawn gets a camera installed but that isn't for a while. Better yet, get another job. What better things do you have to do? You are in high school you don't need to sit in Starbucks on a daily basis and talk about the same thing that you did the day before.

SAVE YOUR FLIPPING MONEY! This will help you when you become me. As luck would have it, your poor spending and saving habits carried over and turned into mine. At 24 you will have tens of thousands of dollars in school debt and still no savings. If you start I will have to continue.

On a similar note, this ridiculous college money thing. Try convincing your parents to divorce before your sophomore year in college. Oh yeah, the rents get divorced. You know you have seen it coming. If you can get them to do this it will do two things. 1) hopefully keep them from despising the thought of each other in the future and 2) mom claims you, so the government will pay for college. Thus, avoiding the loan money you have to pay back afterward. You will be a step ahead of the game that I am in now.

Oh yea, college, instead of going through the shenanigans of picking a major and then changing your major I will just tell you what to study. At 24 you work at an ABA center in carmel. You love it. Study it. DO IT! It will save some wasted time.

Now, for the reason I traveled back in time to give this to you. The Chevrolet Equinox. You will love this car. When it comes time for a new car in the fall of 2011 this is the one that you want. Following all of the guidelines that I have given you will get you this car. Understood?

The rest of my advice? Enjoy high school but remember it is just high school. Nobody gives a flying rat's patootie about it later in life. I know it's hard to comprehend but it's true. Go to the Friday night football games like you are though, those are the best. In college, really enjoy it. It goes by waaaaay too fast. You blink and you are old. People actually do care about their friend's they had in college after they graduate soooo you are free to actually care while you are there.

Much Love,

Whitney/you/me/......well you know.


P.S. Chevy Equinox. That is all.

Picking pics...

The license plates from left to right are: Indiana '32, California '87 (for my birth year :D), Iowa '75, Missouri '78, and Indiana '54....we still need a '90 (for Shelby's Birth year), one from the 60's, 40's, 20's, and the 1900's. So if anyone catches any let me know!

Above the cali plate is a pair of 1914 black men's rollerskates made by Chicago Rollerskate Company Ware Bros. The CRCWB was founded in 1905 by Walter Ware and became the world's leading rollerskate manufacturer. This particular style was patented in 1914 however as to the exact year of this pair I am not completely sure.

In the middle of the ledge are a birdcage, a motorcycle, a boot, an Eiffel tower replica, another birdcage, and a fire hat.

The Fire helmet is a 1960's Bullard Helmet. Founded in 1898 the Bullard Company produced personal protective equipment. They produced the first "hard-boiled" hat in 1919 for miners. For this hat they took the image of the WWI army helmet and modified it to the needs of the mining community. The company produced it's first fire helmet in 1930 following their development of the first hard hat. "In 1947 they created the first fiberglass helmet, the first NFPA-approved helmet in 1983, and the first ratchet headband used in 1987." I think that this hat is a 1960's version but there is a good chance that I am wrong. The patented 3 ribbed dome was created in 1940s out of fiberglass and changed to thermoplastics in the 50's and 60's. I have no idea the difference between the two materials so I may have dated it incorrectly!

Here is my 1955 World Book encyclopedia set. Pretty much speaks for itself but here is some history if you like. The first edition of World Book was published in 1917 and contained 8 volumes. New editions have appeared every year except 1920, 1924, and 1932. In 1961, World Book published a braille edition wich consisted of 145 volumes totaling 40,000 pages. 1964 it published a large print edition, in 1990 it published the first electronic edition, the first international version was published in 1992, and beginning in 1998 World Book has produced an online version containing articles and contents of every world book that has been published since 1922.

Lastly, is a "Drink Coca-cola delicious and refreshing" tray from 1912. Brief run-down of coca-cola: first sold in 1886 it went through a lot of legal hullabaloo until 1914. Records of the legal background of the company were burned on purpose by the owner Asa Griggs Chandler in 1910 to ensure that it would remain in his possession. This action made more sense when 1914 rolled around and the original owners came forward with the statement that their signatures had been forged on the bill of sale. Coke changed its formula to "New Coke" in April 1985 and after much backlash returned to a variation of its old formula in July 1985 calling it "Coca-cola Classic". By 2011 "Classic" had been removed from all coke products since there was no longer a need to differentiate between the classic formula and the now nonexistent "New Coke".

Phew, that was a lot of information!