5. Girls are great, but shouldn’t be your focus.
I really can’t stress this one enough. High school is a time to discover who you are, have a ton of fun, work out your awkwardness, laugh, and so on. Please don’t let a girl(s) stress you out. I have to confess… we can do that at times. I hope you have lots of girls — slash — friends, but seriously, now is not the time to get so focused on a girl. However, high school is a great time to learn how to treat young women with respect, honor, and purity–the way God intended. Don’t forget that.
6. Don’t wish this time away.
Right now you’re probably excited to start on this new journey, and this may be a foreign thought to you, but soon you’ll be in the throes of essays and midterm exams, and you’ll just want it all to be over. The stress will be more than you’ve experienced, I’m sorry to say. But, crazy enough, it will come to end so very quickly, and you will sit back like me, twenty-something years out, and see those were some of the best years of your life. So please enjoy each day that high school brings you – the good and the not-so-great – because each experience is shaping you more and more into the adult you are meant to be.
7. Don’t keep your struggles to yourself.
You are a guy, and naturally, you will tend to stay quiet about your inner struggles. Dad and I don’t want you to do this. You don’t have to tell us everything, but please, if you’re troubled, hurt, offended or struggling in any way, just come to us. These years can hold many fun and exciting times, but they also can be confusing and leave you feeling deeply hurt, too. Your heart isn’t always prepared for some of this, and that’s where we come in.
There are really no issues we can’t handle together.
So that’s it, Sam. There will be more dad and I will add as this chapter in your life unfolds. So with my heart bursting with joy and sadness altogether, I am sending you off. Dad and I love you immensely, never forget that.
