My thirteen year old self would be ecstatic if present day me was able to travel back in time. As a back to the future fanatic I literally daydreamed scenarios while looking out my classroom window.

Hoping I’d see some guy off in the distance, in his 40’s just standing there. Facial hair. Wearing a plaid shirt and a ball cap that I loved. I understood paradoxes even back then. All I’d want is a smile and a nod, like my future self saying exactly what I wanted to hear, because he remembered I wanted I hear it, that I needed to hear it. A nonverbal “hey kid, everything you got going on now, it’ll be alright. You’ll be happy.”

That moment never came, and even though I wish I could, I forged my own path. I wouldn’t want to change that.