A letter from Jan 07, 2025

Dear Future Juno, Whew-wee! Hot **** Juno! I read your letter from two years ago (I think we forgot last year? who knows) and I must say! What a dark time and place! We're a lot better now, I must say. Go easy on the nihilism, okay? Hope is real and alive! Okay. Where to start? New year, new you. There's a lot to catch up on. I'll stick to 2024. We graduated high school and started college at Michigan State University. Major(s): Arts and Humanities/English Education. Minor (hopefully?): Religious Studies. Doing well so far, although there was some roommate conflict, it's all worked out now. You've got the support of your friends (both old and new) and your professors. Sometimes you can feel a bit insane, but you're stable and alright now. I feel a little bad not saying as much, but I suppose no (or less) news is good news. Smooth sailing. It's interesting to see where we have fallen. "Fallen" is a dumb way to put it, because it's not like we were ousted. We just took a long break as our fandom became less popular and as a result decreased in popularity. We write mostly for ourselves now, and I like it that way. About 3.6k followers on Twitter and consistently about 100 kudos per AO3 fic. Pretty normal, pretty stable. I'm pretty happy with where we are. We have a loyal and responsive audience who enjoy what we create, not because they expect it, but because they want to nurture it. It's relaxing. Enjoyable. I'm happy. You and Emily are inextricably intertwined as always. We had a tough conversation the other day. More than friends, less than lovers. "Connected," she said. I have to agree. Not sure where we're going, but off we go anyhow. I have never been so truly, madly, deeply in love with someone's soul like hers. It's strange. I want it. I like it. I'll wait forever. I would stand in the dark for her. I hope we will together. As for your questions, here's rapid fire answers: 1. It's good. 2. It's better. Keep going! 3. We picked a funny senior quote. It was: "Minor traffic violation? Officer, that's a terrible name for a baby!" Because haha funny "minor" and you get pulled over so often. 4. We planned to go to Boston together but there were some complications and confusion regarding the logistics so we went with Mom and not Connor. Ideally we'll get there eventually. 5. Yes! A couple jobs. We were a daycare attendant for a while (and might return again) but this summer we're trying to be a barista. In current time, we are an apprentice creative consultant at the LMC w/ RCAH. Excited for what that entails! 6. The Feeple are alive and well (more or less). Ress and Jel are there, at least. Em pops in on occasion but she's really busy with her senior year of high school and college auditions. Deyo and Alex are relatively MIA. Also, you did not get to meet Ress that year, deepest apologies. She joined the Coast Guard. Still talk to her semi-regularly, of course. That's a real one. 7. You FINALLY escaped the Dexter Drama Club! You were there until the bitter end, though. And you come back for improv shows (for Aidan) and are helping with fight choreo for Brigadoon. So, more or less. More. You can go whenever you like. As for "putting someone in their place", I don't feel the need to do that anymore. Their worst punishment is who they are. They'll face their own music. Don't worry about them. Just let it slide off you, like water off of duck feathers. You got yourself. 8. The Crane Wives are still pretty high up there, but they have been dethroned by Ethel Cain. We LOVE Ethel Cain. She's got us through Hard Times (lol), Strangers (lol), and Televangelism (this one is less funny but it is still incredible music). Favorite song: The Cremation of Sam McGee by Seth Boyer or Hard Times/Inbred by Ethel Cain. 9. The cats are doing well. They're happy and healthy. So are we. It's strange. You had no idea what we were going to do that year. We are finally, finally free from Eric. As of now, we haven't seen him since November 30th, 2023, or spoken to him since about a week from your 18th birthday. Funny how that works. Freedom is wonderful. I feel liberated. Alive. Awake. Relieved. Calm. Electric. But yeah, it is exhausting to be us. We have more than we realize, my dear. Breathe it in. Love, Juno