It’s funny how much of a role growth plays in our lives. Not only height and weight and shoe size, but the more abstract aspects of life; like the ideas of maturity and development and how all of those concepts are affected. It’s important that we grow as people and develop our characters and that we become who we want to be seen as and the characters that we are proud of.

What’s more intriguing though, is the way our everyday reminders grow with us. They start out as remember to tie your shoes and remember to zip your jacket. Mom packed your lunch for you, so remember it’s on the counter and you have to grab it before you get on the bus to your first day of kindergarten. And then around fifth grade, it’s about remembering times tables and how to divide and most importantly, the order of operations. Remember that because the order in which you do things will begin to affect more than just the grade on your math quiz. Middle school comes and you have to remember to stay true to yourself and don’t get involved in the drama. It’s the first time you really have to remember to be yourself because someone believes in you, but what is important is that that person reminds you that they believe in you because you’re beautiful and this is a time of a lot of hard changes. And then we get to high school and we have successfully made it through the most awkward phase of our life. Now you have to remember due dates because teachers won’t let you hand in your essay two days late for full credit. Matter of fact, you won’t get full credit out of anything if you don’t stay on top of things yourself. You have to remember that now because, with age, redeeming yourself becomes harder and harder.

Remember that. Remember that everything you do matters. It’s important. You’re important. You’re beautiful. Remember to have a good day and be happy. Use your manners, your mom has been telling you that since the beginning. And this brings me to the most basic reminders that we most often forget. The reminders that were whispered in our ear when Dad tucked us in to bed and yelled out the door as we left the house on our own. It’s some of the basic things that we forget to remember, but it’s important that the most important people in our lives remind us of those things. Remember to hold the door because when someone does that for you, it makes you happy. Say thank you and tell her that she looks nice because that will bring a smile right to her heart. Remember that paper is due tomorrow and you have an exam on Thursday. Oh and that scholarship application is due in 13 hours. Remember all of those things.

Remember that I love you. Yes, the reminders themselves are important because without them we would probably miss a lot. But it helps that the people that matter most to you and that you are most important to, are the ones passing them out because there are some reminders that are too hard to receive from the iPhone alarm app.

Remember how good you feel when you get reminded of something. It’s satisfying and relieving and empowering to know that you have people in your life that you can trust for the little things that are sometimes most important. So yes reminders are crucial because I would have missed too many deadlines and forgotten to do my homework. But what’s more meaningful is what reminders tell you about the people that you are surrounded by. It’s important that they care enough to remind you of what you think deserves the space of a reminder in your life. So just remember that. Remember the power of reminders. Remember to remind because in doing this you are empowering others, you become empowered yourself. Positivity spreads. Remember: you are beautiful and you are happy.

By the way, remember you have to submit your paper in 27 minutes.