A letter from December 20th, 2020

It's 1:45am, morning of December 20th, 2020. You need to be up in a few hours to meet Nick for sunrise. The film boys strike at dawn. But more importantly, you've just gotten off the phone with someone extremely important to you. They've helped you grow like no one has before, and at this very moment you are solidly sure they're meant to be someone you keep around for life. You talked about the past, how our evolution into a romantic relationship took every bit of friendship with it to hold onto, an idealistic love that's so new and incredible... You hope (and are currently VERY confident) that you'd have the same thoughts when you read this in 2025. Otherwise this is going to be a depressing ******* email. Things you like: Elly, learning, film photography, writing creatively, climbing (though it's been a while), working out (looking pretty ******* good) Things I'm hoping I can do by 2025: Have a job I love (or don't hate), be married???, float, skateboard comfortably, be better at snap decision-making. --- If you end up married to you know who, give her this haiku for me: Even from the past, I knew that my heart was yours. Stay mine, Skellyville. --- Just remember, there are no backwards steps, you are always growing. I'll be proud of you no matter what. Let's see, current events... Well there's Covid, I doubt you'll forget that. 250K new cases TODAY in the usa. You won't forget the impact it had, but maybe you'll forget just how turned upside down, inconvenient, and divided the world became. Keep this in mind and please try to spread as much kindness as you can, to help with the mighty task of balancing out such a negative occurrence. In a sentence, 2020 edition::: The world fell apart, you fell in love. Okay well this has gotten really long and I should hurry up and send this so I can start regretting the things I forgot to add here. This has been a major year for self love and discovery. Bring this energy into 2025. Much love from the optimistic past, Gaige