Happy birthday, Sam.

You're fifteen today. You're probably still hyping over your upcoming Quinceañera. You have a guest list of 110 people, and they're all family; except for those three girls from your new school that you've been hanging out with. This is school number 6, right? 7? Anyway, it doesn't seem like it now, but by the end of your freshman year, you'll drift apart from those girls and you'll never talk to them again. That's okay, though. Next year you're gonna meet these two girls and they're the real deal. Actually they're still your best friends today.

I don't wanna give away too much, but I'll have you know you're gonna have literally the coolest friends. You'll all go to the same college, and you'll always have a good time when they're around. They're gonna help you through a lot of rough patches over the next few years. There will be tears and fights and stupid boys, but there will also be road trips and Taco Bell/Krispy Kreme runs and dancing around horribly - yeah, unfortunately that doesn't change.

Oh, yeah, we need to have a talk about boys. Please stop letting them push you around and put you down, especially that one junior guy on the lacrosse team - from where I'm sitting, he doesn't look too pretty. You are not a second-rate anything, so stop letting boys - especially loser high school boys with no cars and no real jobs - treat you like you are. You are a first-rate girl. Don't forget that. Also, please, for the love of God, stop playing the ditz card. It is only cute for so long, and you are way too smart for that.

Speaking of which, keeping your head in those books and being super awkward for eighteen years eventually will pay off. You're gonna get a big scholarship and end up at this private college. I know, it felt like one of those impossible dreams that was never going to really happen, right? Well, I don't wanna spoil it, but just know you are going to kick butt in the major you choose and, yes, you're still going to rock that 4.0. Prioritize your brain.

That being said, it's not all about grades. Before high school ends, that impossible thing is going to happen: you are going to fall crazy stupid in love. It is gonna be just like the Nicholas Sparks movies you lie to everyone about never watching. There will be stargazing, and long walks on the beach, and all that other stuff you think you hate. He is going to be so special, and it's going to feel too good to be true. Hold on to that feeling for as long as you can. It won't last forever...but you'll live, I promise.

Well, I feel like I'm letting you in on too much now, so I'll just finish off by telling you to hang in there. I know things don't seem too great right now, but they will turn up. In the mean time, remember you've got a lot left to fight for. We made it.