James Del, LTD

i really look up to my brother. i used to say it in my list of heroes, but i don’t have that sort of list anymore. it’s more of a mental collection of people i admire and find reasons they should be proud of themselves. james, you’re one of them. something about you i find reassuring - perhaps the fact that you maintain a social life while still enjoying your independence. i’ve always felt “wrong” for wanting to stay in on a weekend night. there’s so much emphasis to go out. it’s a strange sort of pressure.

but you turned out fine and you found that balance. so i’m coming to peace with the fact that my social life isn’t movielike.

I think my sister and I have a better relationship via social networks than we do in person sometimes, but that’s fine by me. It makes me so happy that she can look up to me and find some kind of solace in the fact that I’m perfectly content going to a movie with my dad on a Saturday night instead of hitting the clurbs like most people my age. I went through the same thing in HS, constantly feeling like if I don’t have plans—or rather, don’t want to have plans—I’m somehow a loser/failure/social outcast. But the truth is, people like us are actually far MORE social all the time…at work/school, we are constantly “on,” so at the end of the day it’s nice to come home and turn it off for a bit. There’s nothing wrong with staying in; I do it all the time because that’s what I want to do. Why fight it?

My sister is awesome, and I’m constantly amazed at how mature she is…not even just for her age, but in general. It took me until I was 20 to figure out that it’s healthy to stay in sometimes, she figured it out at 16. The future is bright for ya, kid.

And don’t listen to mom (or any of us, really) about college, go wherever you want, no matter what it’ll cost you. Your success is going to be directly proportionate to how happy you are, so as long as you have that covered you’ll be fine.

James Del, LTD

a thought.