Janna Ireland

Today, it has been ten years since I wrote my first online journal entry. I was sixteen, which is a totally hilarious age to be, and I love being able to track my progress from child to human being.

I wish I’d known then that nothing that matters when you’re in high school matters when you get out of high school. I wasted so much time obsessing over stupid crap!

Dear sixteen-year-old Janna,
You will kiss a boy one day, don’t worry. Lilly is a good friend, stick with her. Not only will you go to college, you will go to graduate school after years of denying that you have any interest in continuing your education. Your hair will get really long and your fear of driving will only get worse. You will be so, so sad at 17 and 18 and 19 and 20 and then you will fall for a man whose love will totally change the way you feel about yourself, but not before you become enough of a feminist to be appalled by the idea that the love of a man can totally change the way you feel about yourself. You will become a pescetarian and get really into Francois Truffaut. You will learn how to cook and how to wear lipstick. You will have a bunch of unfulfilling office jobs and then become an artist who happens to own a surprising number of business suits. Every day, you will look more like your father and think more like your mother. You will always be a photographer but you will never become a professional drummer, sorry. You will live in so many apartments. You will meet so many people.