Hi SS, how are you? Rejoicing, rejoining, relaunching, reconnecting, reckoning, rejuvenating, reuniting. My stream of consciousness to yours. There are a lot of “re” words that could be appropriate here. I’m not sure how long it will take you to find these words, I have the belief that eventually, you will.

For context, I’m coming to you watching the sunset over the Pacific, with Mauna Kea to my left. It’s breathtaking. The vacation is coming to an end, the final night then back to the cold and bitter reality of snow. Least I missed 2 storms, but not it’s aftermath! This was a needed mental break. Couldn’t think of a finer place for the first of the year use of the annual National Park pass.

Where to start. How does it seem like so much life has passed and yet you are always where you’ve been, a memory’s heartbeat away. It still feels so un-awkward. My nephew is in high school, my niece is graduating college (she made it!). My nephew still remains my last hope to be taller than me. Has your daughter inherited some of your height?

Trying to formulate the perfect words, I’ve delayed writing this letter to you. It’s been so long since putting fingertips to keys with the intent of anything other than a business email. With all the relationships traversed in life, in any capacity, you still remain “the keeper of my secrets”. How does that thought settle with you SS?

Thank you for thinking of me. For me, t-day is reserved for connecting with my closest friends and family, and seeing you meant a lot. It’s a warm hug knowing I’m not gone to you and maybe I meant a tiny bit of something to you too.  

And still with an ironic half smile of how quickly we can find each other. The site doesn’t have alerts set up, and goodness knows why I’d be scrolling through notifications on that page on that day, at that time precisely, but I was. Unbeknownst, you set in motion the collision course for our thoughts meeting somewhere out in the universe.

I’m still here SS, and you still matter to me.

Would you like to reminisce, or would you like me to catch you up on my life? A penny for your thoughts, to be caught up on your life? Reminiscing back to when we first met, my goodness lifetimes have passed. We could write new lyrics to “we didn’t start the fire” with all that events in the time passed.  How have the years changed you SS, and how are you the same? Does your smile still reach your eyes?

Ok, feeling sentimental. Not that you’d know, I’m sitting here thinking of all that I remember of that time. If allowing that treasure chest to be unlocked, it takes no effort to recall.  I’m tearing up, because also remembering this is the time when we were saying our two weeks of goodbyes. All this time later, if I put myself in that space, it still gets me.

Good lord did I fall head over heels in love with you. The exact wrong time, wrong place, wrong lifetime, doesn’t make it any less true.