Advise to the clueless

4. List 10 things you would tell you 16 year-old self, if you could.
            Heck!  I can barely even think of 5!

1) Something that I did not know when I was just sixteen
Is that a lot of people thought that I was pretty keen.
A sheepish girl and self-effaced, I felt I was too plain.
I wish I could go back in time and look like THAT again!
Oh, sure, my teeth were crooked, but my hair was out of sight!
I'd like to tell myself to smile.  Forget your overbite!

2) I was raised back in the day when one would show respect
To those who were superiors, their leaders I suspect.
I also thought back then that men should be allowed to lead.
So if a man claimed inspiration, one should really heed.
I'd like to tell myself to pray and wait for a reply
Instead of taking love advice from an unimpartial guy!
Your prayers have all the power, girl, as those of any boy.
And YOUR visions should guide your education, dreams and joy!

3) I think I'd like to tell myself about the facts of life,
The kind of stuff a girl should know before she is a wife.
Some times, it only takes one time to end up 'in that way,'
While other times you try and try and pray and pray and pray.
They told us of the 'facts of life' when I was in third grade.
By sixteen though, a few more facts might just have been an aid!

4) I guess a thing I'd cover is a mix of 2) & 3)
I'd tell myself my body was a gift that's just for me.
I'd tell myself I had the right to keep all hands away
No matter who, my body's mine, I have the right to say.
Of course, sixteen would be too late.  I'd tell myself at ten!
I'd give myself a lesson then about the world of men!

5) I never had much money back before I was sixteen.
I had no clue about the rules in the life long money scene.
I'd tell myself to start right then to save some money back,
To always save a little cash would put me right on track.
I'd also say, don't get in debt except to buy a house
And make sure that you share this plan with any future spouse.