Do you ever wish you could go back in time to give a younger you some advice or encouragement? Maybe I'm weird like that but sometimes I think of what I would say to myself if I could.

Lately I've been thinking about what I would say to my seventh grade self. I was twelve years old and life was going to be very rocky for me for the next six years. I wish I could go back and tell myself that everything would end up okay. That one day I'd be a happy well adjusted mother of two.

I had braces back then and in seventh grade I had the mother of all torture devices in my mouth. I was brushing my teeth this morning and was actually feeling thankful for my straight teeth and it reminded me of what I went through to get them. In seventh grade this was in my mouth. The Herbst appliance. Mine came with a handy dandy Hyrax expander like this. I think my mom cried everytime she had to turn the little screw. Sometimes when I'd yawn the bars on the side would get caught and my mouth would get stuck open. It was bad. It's no wonder the majority of my nightmares center around my mouth. Teeth falling out, tongue made of mush, a never ending supply of unwanted chewing gum.

Among other things, I wish I could tell that twelve year old me that it would be worth it. That 18 years later I'd look in the mirror and smile, then chuckle at the memory of the years I had to wear braces. Hopefully this is making you chuckle too, I bet you wish you had a Herbst to blog about! Maybe you do....what's something that when you were younger you thought would ruin your life but now looking back was worth it??