Excerpt
andlt;bandgt; andlt;bandgt;INTRODUCTIONandlt;/bandgt; andlt;/bandgt; andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;At age sixteen, I did a lot of staring out of windowsand#8212;filled with terror, worrying about who I was or what I was going to be. Was I good, clever, hip, decent, fun enough? Was the world going to end? (This was the 1980s, after all, and the cold war was no joke.) Was I going to make it? I wore a troubled brow.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;As we get older, some of our teenage intensity will ease, but when in the maelstrom, we donand#8217;t know that. When we are young, we so rarely take the advice of grown-ups, but would you have taken advice from someone like you? From your older self perhaps?andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;My family have always been letter writers, and pens have always been precious to me. My motherand#8217;s beautiful italicized script flowing from the left-handed gold nib of her Parker pen always struck me as the height of adult elegance. When, as a child, I would go away from home for any period, there would always be a long and comforting letter from her in my bag. And, of course, writing thank-you letters was as much a part of the holiday season as tinsel.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;A few years ago my partner showed me a heartbreaking letter that he had received from a troubled classmate while he was still at school. It made me want to send a hug back in time to say, and#8220;Youand#8217;re okay, youand#8217;re just fine.and#8221;andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;But in reality, of course, thatand#8217;s impossible. (Time-travel mailbox in development anyone?) Instead, the and#8220;Dear Meand#8221; letter was born. Writing my own letter to myself and hearing what this experience has meant to this bookand#8217;s generous contributors has proven to me that composing a letter to your younger self is a cathartic process. The act of addressing yourself with kindness and adult understanding can give you a better sense of who you are nowand#8212;for indeed, in many ways our childhood self is our parent. As Bob Dylan sang, and#8220;I was so much older then, Iand#8217;m younger than that now.and#8221;andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;Reading this collection is to be rewarded with an intimate glimpse into the backgrounds and emotional makeup of a wonderfully varied group of fascinating people, without the filter of the usual interview process.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;I hope that you will smile, laugh, shed a tear, and take some comfort from these time-traveling missives and remember once again what it was like to be sixteen.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt; andlt;iandgt;Joseph Gallianoandlt;/iandgt; andlt;BRandgt; andlt;iandgt;Londonandlt;BRandgt;June 19, 2011andlt;/iandgt; andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;and#169; 2011 Joseph Galliano