I'm young (just an 18-year-old college student) but already I see some of my friends dropping everything meaningful in their lives to stay with jerks who abuse them, cheat on them, and are generally huge assholes.

How sad. Women who weren’t even born when I met Rick are allowing themselves to be treated poorly. If anyone dared to treat my daughter poorly, I would certainly make mincemeat out of him, but I would also speak to her. Sometimes, people just need a quick kick in the ass to do what they know is right anyway. Judge not and go forth with my message. I talk to my daughter all the time and I say crap like this to her. She listens to me and I thought that maybe you could try this stuff out on your friends. Then, tell them to go ask someone they respect if it doesn’t make sense. That’s what I do.

My first broken heart was tough, I know how strongly you can feel when you are only 18. I remember sleeping a few nights away, waking up only to watch Welcome Back Kotter. It’s as real as it gets but there are very few people who are with the person they loved when they were 18. Most of us remember them fondly, but with less frequency as the years go by. They just sort of fade away into our memories and we live out our lives. That stuff is usually doomed anyway, why would you let yourself down when you have everything in the world going for you? Time is the most powerful weapon in our arsenals, the young should be wielding their youth as though they were lions roaring at a savannah sunrise. The whole world at your front door and you just have to make the decision to open it. The planet is full of other people and the chance that you found the absolute right one when you are only 18 is rare. I know you all will think that you are different than most, but that’s what love is. Someone makes you feel special all the time.

Even if the person you are with treats you well, chances are that it won’t last, why would you want to risk your entire life on one who treats you poorly? There really ARE nice guys. I see them all the time. They actually TALK to me! I am so excited about that. NO man has actually had a real live social conversation with me in years. I left the last one who did for Rick. That was 23 years ago and I haven’t had a man just chat with me in all of that time. He always listened when I spoke but he never spoke back to me. He just sat there with a big stupid grin on his face. You can’t go through life setting standards so low. Well, you can, but bad things happen when you do, trust me. I’ll be damned if I didn’t just sit by and get scammed for 23 years. I am so angry with myself. But I don’t have as much time as you do and I won't waste it by being too angry about it.And I would never set the standards at the most persistent and annoying man around ever again .

So, while you are young, do yourself a favor and have some fun. You won’t have the energy or the time to do it later. And you should get a plan. Whatever it is, get a plan and work on it. You won’t get yourself in half as much trouble. I could be King of the Earth if I could take my brain and my experiences back to 1970. But I can’t. Instead, why don't you learn some lessons from someone else's mistakes and stop allowing people to treat you like dirt? It isn‘t smart and one of these days you will just look back and GRINGE!!!!!!!!!!! I promise. You will quiver the straight shot of tequila kind of cringe that everybody laughs at, the one with no salt or lime. So, stop it now, it just gets worse. I promise.

There, that should do it. Good luck.

Meg