The Non-Dater

A few weeks ago, I wrote a letter to that “Ask Amy” lady in the newspaper. It was actually offering advice for a 14-year-old girl that had written in…well, I’ll just post my letter here:

Dear Amy,

I’m writing in response to “Troubled Teen”, whose mom won’t let her date till she is 18.
I am a rising highschool senior, and there are several reasons I don’t date. Reason number one is that my parents don’t let me.
I fought back about that before, and even had a couple of guys you may call, “boyfriends” that I never went out with. Finally, around October last year, I got my bearings and slowly began to come up with more reasons not to date till I’m older.
The second reason is that I read a while ago that the front part of the brain, which is the area that houses impulse control and moral judgment, is not fully developed until the early 20’s. This way I know that, no matter how mature I think I have gotten, I simply could not really, truly trust myself in a romantic endeavor at the age of 17.
The third reason is that dating is distracting. Right now is the time to make friends with boys AND girls, building good, healthy, solid friendships, as well as racking up that highschool transcript.
The fourth reason is, why date now? I can’t get married now. I cannot commit myself to anyone that way at all right now, and probably won’t till I get out of college. So what’s the point of “going steady” with someone with whom I will probably not be marrying? Fun? Popularity? Heartbreak?
You may not find my reasons very reasonable, but nonetheless I thought that it might help to hear it from an experienced, “non-dater”. Not dating, in my opinion, gives me a chance to enjoy my teenage years for what they are instead of pretending I’m older and mature enough to be dating. And I really think I’m happiest this way. So are my parents.

Sincerely,
“Non-Dater”

So I don’t really know if she got it yet, or if she is going to print it (it IS kind of long), because (obviously) it has not been printed. But I thought that I would put it here, just incase no one ever sees it. I don’t know. Thought it would make an interesting and conclusive entry. Okay…gotta go eat lunch now, bye!

Cordially,
~Jessica

Song of the Day: “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin

Quote of the Day: *Marck hums “Waltz of the Flowers” as Luke Skywalker and a Stormtrooper dance in a LEGO movie he made when he was six and we just watched today and I cracked up over his note-by-note humming*

Not really a quote but I don’t care.