Dear future Lara,

The date today is February 14th, 2021, Valentine’s day. Aws, Dana, and Aiden (uncle, aunt, cousin) just left the house after the conversation about whether we should make a radio or podcast for Arabs in the DC/metropolitan area. Dad wanted one because he believes that it’s crazy we don’t have one here even though there are many Arabs in this area and there are some for Hispanics and such. He wants it to be a non-profit radio and link it to his PBI (professionals for a better Iraq) organization. Dana was helping dad and Aws plan it out since she works for NPR as a journalist/editor and knows a lot about what to do that, she thinks a podcast is the way to go since Radios popularity are going down especially because of quarantine and no one goes in their car that often also because podcasts are on your phone and more accessible and popular. Dad still thinks that Radio is better though and more practical since he doesn’t need to make that much content and could play Arab music until he has some. Have we done either of those? Did Aws ever sign the contract he was given after winning the Shadow competition? Did they turn out to be a shady company or not? Dad and Aws have a lot of plans to get Aws to become a famous singer after winning, I am excited to see whether they will get anywhere or just talk about it. I hope that Aws became a singer because he loves it so much and it is his dream job, he also has what it takes to make his dream come true. By the way, did you ever learn Japanese or Korean yet? I have been wanting to learn one of them for a while now but I can never find the time to do so. If the answer is yes did you ever get to go to Korea/Japan? Cause dad did make a deal that if I was fluent I could go to the country where they speak that language. I hope the answer is yes because it seems so beautiful. Was it fun? Did you make any friends? Did you go with any of your friends like Nadia, Carol, or Nemo? Talking about friends, are you still friends with them? (them being Nadia, Carol, Annelise, Nikki not Nemo though since she is family 0~0) Did you become a doctor or something in the medical field? Maybe an engineer like mom? Or something completely different than mom and dad may not have wanted? I think it’s fine as long as it is making you happy. I don’t really have any plans for the future. All I know is that I want to live my life without regrets and do what I want to. Without mom and dad sticking their heads in it and forcing me to choose another path that I may thought I wanted but really did not. Are you happy where you are now? Do you have any regrets from the past? Any further plans for the future? Did you get married and have kids as you wanted? Were they twins (^~^)? Did you ever become a streamer even for a little bit? Did you move into a house with Nemo and Lucy whether it was a cottage in the Netherlands or a city apartment in Tokyo? Did you ever stream with Nemo and even get a bit popular? I hope the answers to some of these last few questions were yes (hopefully not the regret one though *^*), and if not you still have time no biggie you were always a procrastinator anyway. Are you in a fight with Lucy (sister) right now? If the answer was yes, go apologize to her or makeup, even if it wasn’t your doing like usual it is a pain to be in a fight with her and you know it so go fix that <3. (at this point in writing I started crying thinking about how the future could be, don’t judge you know I am sensitive) I know I am writing a lot but I am curious to know what is going to happen and what could happen. I hope that you have taken control of your life and made it your own and not mom and dad’s dream, maybe you got someone to help you out! Did the half blonde hair ever stick? How long did it last? When did quarantine end? I would love for it to be done before senior year at the most because I want to spend at least one year in high school. Did you find better friends than the crappy ones you had and dropped? They were too much and caused too much drama, don’t forget the ignoring you and carol. I hope you finally got over your fear of doing things in front of others? Did you ever go to the skate park and finally skate down it rather than chickening out because there were too many people? I hope so it was always a dream for me to do that but I always get so scared. I don’t know about you but this being a shy thing is so annoying. Do you still have the habit of crying easily? Whether it’s from the cold or just at random the tears never fail to come out. Did you get your braces off? Did you get a pet snake? Was it black or white? How about a pet Cat? Was it a Maine coon cat? I think I should end this here because it is getting too lengthy, especially for a school assignment. It was fun though, I might make more, I hope I find and read them all in the future and have the answers to my questions.

Good luck,

Lara Ahmed 2021