I'm sitting here playing around on Facebook with Dancing With The Stars on in the background.  I hear "And here to perform one of your favorite guilty pleasure songs for Guilty Pleasures night, Hanson!"  Whaaaaaaat?  I stop in my tracks and look up to watch my very first celebrity obsession(s) singing the song that must have driven my parents absolutely crazy in 1997. I got to thinking about my 13 year old self, and how different my life is from what she ever expected.  So, here is what I would say to her if I had the chance:

Dear Emily in 1997,

You don't know it yet, but your life is about to turn upside down.  You will handle it well and even though it sounds cliche, you will be a better person for it.

You have some pretty great friends in your life right now, and that is awesome.  They are going to help you through the tough times all the way through college, and some of them are actually still your best friends 14 years later.  What you need to do a little differently is to pay attention to the friends who don't take anything from you emotionally and yet add to your life in laughs and fun times.  Trust me, you'll thank me later when you have a lot less emotional baggage from the people who don't contribute anything good.  You'll also probably get yourself in fewer troubling situations.

Dude, don't be such a drama queen.  Seriously, calm down with the dramatics.  It ain't that serious.. nothing ever is!  But in typical teenager fashion, everything is the end of the world to you.  I guess you wouldn't be you without the drama, but it gets old for everybody else.

Want to read something interesting?  Scott is one of your favorite people these days.  Yeah, he's a jerk now but you do both grow into decent human beings.  I know, I know.. You have a really hard time believing you enjoy your little brother's presence, much less actually talking to him on the phone.  But it's true!

Now, I'm going to break the rules and tell you to do a few things differently.

#1 - STUDY.  Yeah, also cliche, I know..  But it's the real deal.  You need a scholarship so you aren't paying a ridiculous amount in student loans every month until you're 30.

#2 - Don't talk to strangers in those really neat chat rooms you're about to discover.  Nothing good ever comes from it.

#3 - Speaking of those chat rooms, you'll feel a lot better if you go to bed when you're supposed to instead of sneaking to get on AOL after everybody else goes to bed.

#4 - Don't get so jealous over your little cousin that was just born.  I know you can't even imagine being jealous over her now since she's only 2 months old, but it's going to happen, and it's not a good thing.  Nobody loves you any less now that there's another granddaughter in the family.  She isn't going to usurp your throne.

#5 - Boys aren't going to start noticing you until you're 16.  You've got 3 years to not worry about it so stop obsessing.

#6 - Don't give up on soccer.  And in fact, learn to run.. You will be a lot happier for it when you're 25.

#7 - Don't go see Titanic so many times in the theater.  It will give you nightmares.

#8 - Go visit your grandmother more.  You're really going to miss her when she's gone.

#9 - Learn to keep your mouth shut when it matters.  Oh, and be kinder to everyone, not just your friends.

#10 - Back to jealousy. Just stop getting jealous when boys pay more attention to your friends than they do to you.  It's life, and it doesn't do you any good.  And the truth is.. here comes the big one:

Your life at 26 is amazing.  You have the best husband you could ever wish for, and together you have a beautiful little girl who makes every aspect of your life brighter.  Right now you get to live in Hawaii and you have a lifetime of travel and adventure ahead of you.

And please write this on a little sticky note and keep it with you for the next 9 years because it's so very important:  Whatever you do, DO NOT break up with the guy you start dating in September 2006.  It's probably the biggest mistake you make in your early 20's.