Buy on bigcartel.com“There’s nothing like setting out on a journey that’s clearly mapped in front of you. Mirrors & Maps does just that! I love the way it not only prepares young girls for the road ahead but also allows them to get to know themselves better along the way. I only wish this book had been around for my journey. Dream big!”
—Melinda Doolittle, American Idol Finalist and Recording Artist
We’re not in Kansas anymore...
Pop Quiz
- Have you ever woken up and felt bad about yourself for no reason whatsoever?
- Have you spent time trying to figure out how to get into the popular group at school?
- Have you ever been embarrassed by your dad singing in the car with your friends?
- Have you noticed that things are starting to feel more different than ever before?
- Do you change your opinion—or even your personality—around different friends?
- Do you get overwhelmed with all of the thoughts and feelings bouncing around inside of you?
If you answered yes to even one of these questions, you passed the quiz. That means you’re a normal girl going through the confusing changes of growing up! Sometimes it might feel like you woke up in a whole new world—kind of like Dorothy, in The Wizard of Oz. The good news is, you’re not alone.
Melissa and Sissy, the authors of this book, think they can help you figure out some of the big questions in your life.
Even if you haven’t asked them out loud, chances are you’ve started to wonder:
who am I? what do I want? what should I do? who do I want to be?
While they’re no longer teenagers, Melissa and Sissy remember a bit about what it was like to be in those preand
early-teenage years. But more than that, every day they talk with girls who are a lot like you—girls who are
feeling confused or overwhelmed, who are feeling like they’re changing in ways they don’t understand (physically, emotionally, and spiritually) and feel like their lives are out of their own control.
In this book, Melissa and Sissy, along with girls your age, will share some insight into what’s going on in your life. You’ll find that you’re actually normal—you’re just growing up and becoming the person God has created you to be.
Introduction:
Mirrors and Maps: An Introduction from Sissy
Last fall Melissa and I took a 400-mile road trip with our friend Mimi - on our bikes. No, we’re not crazy and we’re not super athletic. We’re actually kind of normal and a lot like you, only older. And being older made it harder. I cried a lot - pretty much every day - because I couldn’t keep up with my friends. I had pictured the three of us riding alongside each other (which I later realized would have taken up a lot of space on the road and been illegal), singing songs, telling stories, and laughing together. But it wasn’t quite like that. Melissa flew several miles ahead of me at all times. Mimi stayed close to the middle, trying to decide if she should keep up with speeding Melissa in the front or check on weeping Sissy in the back. Humongous RVs with names like “The Crusher”
blew past us every few miles. There were way more uphills than downhills, and for long stretches it felt as if we were riding our bikes over a metal cattle grate instead of a road. And did I mention it was 400 miles, which equaled 40 miles a day for 10 very long days? Okay, maybe we were a little crazy.
But some little pushes along the way made the ride easier. We had different friends follow along in cars and provide us with drinks and snacks. Most of our snacks were healthy and gave us much-needed energy. They were all helpful, but the caramel brownies helped the most. Reaching mile 40 each day helped, too. Music made a huge difference - especially songs like “I Will Survive” and “We’re All in This Together.” And friends definitely
did their part. Three of our friends made goofy signs and taped them to trees and bridges along the way to encourage us and make us laugh. At one point they sat on top of hay bales in a field, holding their signs and cheering us on as we passed.
All of that stuff was important, but we couldn’t have made it through the trip at all if it weren’t for two travel essentials. Before we left, we had rearview mirrors attached to our bikes. These mirrors helped us see if we were about to be run over by The Crusher, and sometimes they helped Melissa and Mimi see that I was nowhere in sight. But they also inspired us by showing us what we’d accomplished so far. There’s nothing like looking back at the hill you’ve just climbed to remind you of how strong you really are. Those mirrors quickly became indispensable. We also came to rely on the mile markers. If you haven’t been on a marathon bike trip like ours and don’t know what mile markers look like, they are signposts along the side of the highway telling you how many miles you are from the beginning - or end - of the road. They were like a real-life map of the route we rode. Sometimes the mile markers were all we could mthink about: Okay, we just passed mile marker 237. Only 26 miles to go. 25. 24 - you get the picture. The mile markers reminded us how far we had come and how far we had left to go to reach our destination.
This time in your life is a lot like our 400-mile bike ride. You’ll have all kinds of fun and beautiful surprises along the way. Some moments will make you laugh, and some moments are so exciting you can hardly contain your joy. But other times life is just a hard ride. Some older girls will tell you the years between ages 11 and 14 were the hardest stage of growing up for them. Of course you’ll have great days during these years, lots of them. But then you’ll have the other days, the days when you wake up feeling lousy about yourself for no apparent reason,
the days you’re mortally embarrassed by your parents, the days when all you want is to be part of the popular crowd. These are days when the questions bouncing around in your head have you so overwhelmed and confused you don’t know how you’re ever going to make it through the next hour.
Maybe you’re wondering how we know what’s going on in your head. Well, when we’re not biking our legs off, we spend our days with girls a lot like you. We’re counselors who talk to girls every day about the stuff they struggle with and worry about. We listen to them as they wrestle with issues like friendship, boys, peer pressure, their relationships with their parents, and their relationships with God. And we’ve found that nearly all of them ask four basic questions, questions you might be asking, too:
- Who am I?
- What do I want most in my life?
- What should I do?
- Who do I want to be?
This book is our way of helping you with these questions. We’ll share our ideas about what you’re going through and how you can manage all of it. And we’ll introduce you to some of the girls we know who are on the same journey you’re on. You’ll also hear from girls who are a little farther up the road and find out what they’ve learned along the way. You’ll find their words in little quotes throughout the book.
We also want to give you those two essential travel tools that made our bike trip so much better: First we’ll give you a rearview mirror so you can see where you’ve been and take stock of all God has done in your life up to this point. Then we’ll give you a map - a set of mile markers - to guide you as you find your way through this sometimes-bumpy part of life. This book is our way of riding alongside you, giving you caramel brownies, and holding up signs to make you laugh as you take the glorious journey of becoming the person God made you to be.
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