11.30.2008

An Open Letter

Dear [Insert Name Here], You are in our thoughts more than you know. Believe it or not, we watch out for you. Sometimes, we only see you once after a glance on a cold bus. Sometimes you married us and started everything. Sometimes we became your friends after a high kick. Sometimes we only hear about you on the radio, or the newspaper, or the tv (if it's really sad or really happy). Sometimes we're in your family and you love us because you have to, even at those moments when you wish for a second you didn't. Sometimes you're our nemesis, but we would drop everything to help you if someone messed with you besides us. Sometimes you're in another country and there are men with guns; other times, we're next door and you let the dogs play together. Sometimes we're in love with you even when it's not easy. Sometimes you died before we could tell you. No matter its degree, we have a relationship with you. We're all in the same pond, rippling away with our pebbles, little waves overlapping. We just want you to know how much you mean to us: We love to see you laugh. We smack our foreheads when you make mistakes. We wink at you when you say something silly and pretend that it was hurtful. We get angry when you hurt us. We hurt when you get angry with us. We can't wait to hear about your trip. We read about your accomplishments and smile. We mourn your pain and drop our eyes and hats when it hits. We flinch when you do. We cry when you do. We laugh when you do, we laugh with you, and--SORRY--sometimes we laugh at you. We can't wait for you to stop telling us about your trip. We ignore you too much, listen too little, forget too often, force things when they shouldn't be forced, and make the biggest mistakes of our lives when you're involved. We desperately want you to succeed. We desperately want you to be happy. We desperately want you to meet your potential and shatter records along your way. We desperately need your help. We desperately need you. Why? You're here. And that means everything. Really. Love, Everybody.

3 comments:

M. Gordon said...

"Sometimes we're in love with you even when it's not easy."

I know it's not easy to be in love with me (living together and all), but we can make it work, man. We can make it work.

Kenny said...

This puts me in mind of a conversation that I desperately hope they keep in the Watchmen movie (possible spoilers below)...

Laurie Juspeczyk: But... if me, my birth, if that's a thermodynamic miracle... I mean, you could say that about anybody in the world!

Dr. Manhattan: Yes. Anybody in the world. But the world is so full of people, so crowded with these miracles that they become commonplace and we forget... I forget. We gaze continually at the world and it grows dull in our perceptions. Yet seen from the another's vantage point, as if new, it may still take our breath away. Come... dry your eyes, for you are life, rarer than a quark and unpredictable beyond the dreams of Heisenberg; the clay in which the forces that shape all things leave their fingerprints most clearly.

Rachel said...

YEAH FOR HIGH-KICKS!