A letter from June 20th, 2020

So hopefully you got yesterday's letter, I wrote that earlier today, it was mostly just small talk and sending my greetings. I think this one will go a bit deeper and maybe it'll be a bit longer. So, you're basically 22 years old now. Time flies doesn't it. 5 years ago from today (for me in 2020), I was just finishing Mr.Grewals Gr.6 class. Wow, that feels so long ago and yet it's crazy to think about everything that's happened. I've changed so much. I'm not the same person at all. I remember how snobby and stuck up I was. How little I knew, how much I had to learn. I still have so much to learn huh, and so do you. I'm so glad I've met people who helped change me. I'm guessing you're gonna be so vastly different from me too huh. In 5 years you'll hopefully have our lives planned out, you'll know what we'll be doing. You'll have a way to support us, our mum, and our future wife and family. It's crazy to think that you could already be married, but its also equally likely that we haven't met that special girl yet. There's so much that could happen in 5 years, I'm sure we'll forget about these letters at some point. I know how much we like to feel nostalgic though so it'll be a nice surprise. Are we even still in Toronto? still in Canada??? Have we started a business as we've always thought about? You better be taking care of your self, working out, staying emotionally happy, going to the mosque and praying 5 times a day, taking good care of mum, calling and staying in touch with family on both sides, eating well, finding a good career and job, finding a few hobbies and spending time with friends. I hope we've made some really great friends. Being an only child with a helicopter mom has been though eh. Remember what Mr.Knox said? The real lifelong friends you'll have, you'll meet in University because those friendships will be based on common interests and goals and not just because you grew up together. You must have learned so much in the past 5 years. You must have matured and become a fine young man. I know it must be weird to read these, thoughts from your past self, ideas that aren't fully formed. But I know for sure you're still a kid at heart, stupid and clumsy as ever. Have we gone to a speech therapist yet? I know I want to do that for sure. Hmmm, I have so many things I want to say but I don't want to bore you. I guess I'll just say how I'm doing these days, what my philosophies and beliefs are now, and what I plan to do by the time I read this and hopefully remind you of what I want to do after we'll be reading this (I hope that made sense.) So, today is June 19, 2020. Classes for my grade 11 school year just ended. I feel like I was flooded with work because I also had to help my mom with her classes. I've had a couple of interviews the past few months, Ikea, Canada's Wonderland, the Laws job. I feel like Gr. 11 has been the most impactful year in my life so far. I've learned so much as a person and academically. I hope you remember the promise we made to father and to god. Well, I guess if your reading this then we've kept our promise huh. Today was a great day weather-wise, I really miss swimming, I didn't realize how much I took it for granted the past few years. Last night I spent a few hours talking to Joe, you remember him right? Of course, you do. Maybe you could call him or something, it's been a while I'm sure he'd love to talk to us. I've been watching so many movies in the past few weeks, and before that, I watched and finished a few series. My relationship with mum could be better, a lot better. Hopefully, it gets sounder soon. I need to pray 5 times a day, I don't do that yet. Oh, I went to the mosque today, you should go after tomorrow. Are we still living in the same house? I wonder what our place looks like now. I have a few friends I could talk to, none that are super close. But I still feel lonely a lot. Did we get that surgery on our nose yet? Its been bothering me the past few days. Hmm, I think that's all for how I'm doing now. Okay, so my philosophies, ummmm yeah I can't explain whats in my head. Maybe, no, you should be able to explain your thoughts and ideas by then. Youll be a friken university graduate, you better know how to explain what we're thinking and how to put our ideas into words. Okay, lastly, what I hope to achieve by July 2, 2025. Wow looking at that number seems so unreal. I guess a lot of things seem unreal to me nowadays. I feel like one day I'm gonna wake up and it'll all be different or I'll somehow go back in time and be able to change my life. It really does feel like some sort of neverending dream. Anyways, so, the only thing I hope to achieve by the time you read this is being truly happy. I don't know how we're gonna do that. Maybe it'll be our wifey, maybe it'll be finding a purpose, maybe it'll be not feeling lost anymore. Maybe we'll be able to leave a legacy like we've been wanting to do. Maybe god will help us be closer to him and find happiness and joy and meaning with him. Maybe, just maybe. And now, our parting words. Hmmmm, you know what, I'll send the parting words to you tomorrow. It's almost 11 pm and you know how mom is. (This is so random but be sure to read plenty of novels, I really like reading books and paperbacks.) I hope life is going well Ali, if you ever feel lost and stuck, just remember how far you've come, and how much further we still have to go. We're gonna change the lives of many people, hey, maybe we already have. Let's keep at it. With infinite anticipation, Ali A Salman June 19, 2020