Dear Tam

You’re finally on your way to Rhodes. The prospects of university that face you are both so scary and exciting, that the volcano of feelings that are erupting in you right now must be overwhelming! We both know they were for me. Remember when I cried on your bed, sobbing at the very thought of facing the challenges of university life, and then at waking the following morning I dragged you through every leaflet, pamphlet and website mentioning Rhodes, in sheer excitement of this new experience.

I urge you to enjoy all the fresh opportunities that university offers. I do, however, have a word of caution, in that it is going to be hard for you to distinguish between new experiences and just plain bad ones. Don’t be overly cautious, it’s important that you make your own decisions, just remember peer pressure and alcohol distort what you may think are your own choices. My most treasured lesson was in realising that the independence and integrity of your decisions are your most respectable and hopefully unwavering qualities. This isn’t a great responsibility, if anything it’ll protect you from frequently waking up with a heavy heart and the horrible feeling of regret. I’ve told you countless stories about people making poor life decisions and blaming it on their friends’ influence or alcohol, but in truth shifting the blame doesn’t make you feel any better about yourself.

Now, don’t think that this means you’re constantly going to have to worry about everything you do, it doesn’t. Life is all about making mistakes and learning from them. We’ve always laughed at how we feel too bad to say ‘no’, but trust me, ‘no’ is the most valuable word in your vocabulary. I know that you’re a kind, sociable person so I say this with the little wisdom I have, saying ‘no’ wont make you a social outcast or miss out on all the fun, most often people respect you for it and on occasion you get to help someone else.
Always looking out for you

‘SisVic’