In 1994 I wrote a letter. I stuck it in an envelope, put it away and completely forgot about it.

It wasn't until we moved into our new home in 2006 that I found it again. It was addressed to me with explicit¹（明确的） instructions not to open until my birthday 2005. It was now 2006 so I decided² to open it. This is what it said:

Dear Sherri

By the time you read this you will be 30. At the age of 18 I had so many hopes and dreams about where you'd be, what you'd be doing and with whom you'd spend your life with.

Right now I hope that you have traveled and seen everything you've always wanted to, both in Canada and overseas, and maybe even settled down somewhere in Australia doing some research in the field of biology (genetics).

I hope you're married to the man of your dreams. The man of mine is Gwynn. He is originally from South Africa (another place I wish to visit).

You'll probably have two children of your own – a girl(Michaela Anne) and a boy (name yet to be decided).

If everything goes according to plan you'll be living in Australia in a big house in a small town outside of a big city with a lot of land, a dog, Gwynn and your two beautiful children. Hopefully you have a career in the medical field, maybe doing research in genetics. Gwynn will be a computer programmer and you will be doing alright for yourselves.

However, if things don't go according to plan for you, I wish you all the love, happiness and joy in the world and don't settle for anything less than the best since that is absolutely what you deserve³.

Live long, be happy and live life to it's fullest.

Love Sherri "18″

When I read this for the first time since writing it I was floored. Even now having dug this up again another 4 years later I still can't help but think this is really cool.

So much of what I wanted for myself has materialized.

• I did travel to a few more places in Canada although I haven't seen everything I'd like to.
• I did marry the man of my dreams and yes he still is my one and only.
• I've traveled to the UK, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
• I lived in Australia for nearly 4 years in a big house, in a small suburb⁴, in a major city (close enough).
• I had a career in Biology in the field of genetics for 10 years.
• I have two lovely kids – both boys (names now decided).
• I have not one dog but two dogs. Both yellow labs from Australia.
• Gwynn is a computer programmer.
• We are doing okay for ourselves.

After writing this I quickly forgot about what I had put in here actually. The things that materialized were all met with quite a bit of resistance⁵ (all internal) but I suppose these were things that I really did want. Having never strayed⁶ too far from home overseas travel was a huge deal. Having never been away from my family moving to Australia for several years was an incredibly huge decision.

I find it fascinating how the dreams of a young and naive⁷ little girl can become a grown woman's reality.

I'm curious if you guys have ever written anything to your future self and how it stacks⁸ up to your current reality. If you haven't, will you join me in writing a letter now to yourself in say 10 years from now? It's an interesting little experiment.