LETTERS FROM MY PAST.

Today is the last day of the year. And while it’s my nature to be reflective every day, on December 31, my reflector gene goes into overdrive.

One of the things that helps kick it into gear is my annual letter. It’s a tradition that started when I was 16 years old. That New Year’s Eve I sat down and wrote a letter to my 17-year-old self. I sealed it, then put it in a drawer for a year.

The following December 31, I opened it, read it, and burned it. Then I wrote another letter to be opened the following year.

And so a New Year’s Eve tradition was born. When I turned 21, I made a dramatic change.

I decided not to burn the letter from the 20-year-old me. I kept it. And I’ve been writing letters to myself for all those many decades ever since. One a year. It’s gotten to be a hefty stack of mail.

Most years I just open and read the most recent one. But sometimes, I dig into the pile and reconnect with some of the many incarnations of the person I used to be. It’s like going through an old photo album. Only better. Because the pen captures so much more than the camera.

Over the years the format has never changed. It’s comfortably predictable. I start out writing about the immediate present — the things that are going on in my life at the moment. Then, not unlike your local newspaper does every December, I recap the past year, expanding on the important stuff, and highlighting the rest. And finally I look to the future. No New Year’s resolutions — just my thoughts, hopes, concerns, and plans for the year ahead.

Nobody but me has ever read a single one of those letters. And I’ve asked my family to destroy them all after I die. But despite the fact that they only have an audience of one, they are some of the most important words I’ve ever put to paper.

I recommend you try it. If not New Year’s Eve, then on your birthday or whatever feels like the right day to be your annual milestone marker. Writing it might not come easy, but I hope that when you open it a year later you’ll feel as good about reading that letter as I felt this morning reading mine.

Happy New Year.

Marshall posted on December 31, 2008 8:06 PM