When We Were Little

My friend Steven just posted some pictures of us when we were in second grade:

We were doing a competition called BrainQuest (tagline: "It's O.K. to be Smart!"), which was like trivia questions.  We had three classes in second grade, and each one had someone representing it: Steven, Mike, and I were the three who got picked.  It was a lot of fun, and I won at the school level, but got whooped at the regional level (I was never all that good at trivia, sorry Academic Team).  

These pictures are a fun reminder of how much (and how little) we've all changed since we were little kids.  There are always a bunch of people on Facebook with profile pictures of them as little kids, and now with the "memories" section on Facebook I've been seeing old photos pretty often.  I was rocking that plaid button up shirt and the bangs, Steve had the up-do and the vest, and Mike looked very little.  Appearance-wise, we've all changed a lot.  My hair is longer and curly now, Steve's is shorter, and we're all a lot taller (although even then I was the tallest).  But looking deeper than appearances is different.  I was a nerd then and I'm a nerd now, but I don't know if Steve or Mike would say the same thing.  I feel like I've gained a lot of confidence, and I'm much more comfortable with who I am than I was in second grade (I probably didn't even know who that was back then).  I'm more outgoing and (maybe) less weird.

I don't think I'm this kid anymore, 

although I still love wearing capes and the curls are making a comeback

I feel like everybody has changed since we were little.  We're shaped by our experiences and our friends; some people turn into nerds (cough Amy cough), some people turn into athletes, and some people end up with a not so great crowd.  Whether the changes are for better or for worse, life changes us.  Now we're facing the next step in our lives: college.  What I really wonder is how much that will change me.  I don't really know what I want to major in, and really in the long run I only have a vague idea of what I want to do with my life.  College is a different world, and as much as I've had tastes of it, I've always had the understanding at the summer programs that there was an end that was very close.  At the summer programs I wasn't starting a new life, I was just experimenting.  But getting to college, as I've talked about, is an opportunity to reinvent ourselves.  

What would it be like if I could meet the old me and the future me?  How different would we be?  What could we tell each other?  Sadly, time is linear as far as we're concerned, so I'll never get an answer to those questions.  But I can always try to remember who I was and how far I've come.

Your thoughts:

Is it really O.K. to be smart?

How have you changed since you were a kid?

How do you think college will change you?

What would you say to your future self, and what do you think he/she would say to you?