One of the reasons I was originally avoiding this letter was because I couldn't possibly pick between the two of you, K and E, so now I've decided I'll just select a King and Queen of my school friends and write letters to each of you. So there.
Ladies First:
Dear E,
GET YOUR ASS BACK FROM CALIFORNIA. JERSEY MISSES YOU. Or at least, I miss you. It's beautiful football-throwing weather today and I have a 4 hour break between my two shifts at work, but no one to football-throw with. Not being able to talk to you when my life was falling apart was JUST PLAIN WEIRD. It's funny, I guess I didn't realize how close I'd gotten to you when we were roommates sophomore year. [Confession: I had been a little concerned about sharing a bedroom with you because you were the roommate I knew least well upon moving in. That went away pretty quickly.] But then we talked a lot over the summer and every single day when you were in Oxford [until you went into I-have-to-write-my-JP-in-a-week mode, that is] and people (read: K) kept teasing us about it, but I realized that you had become one of my closest friends somewhere along the way.
We don't agree on a lot of things a lot of times. We have radically different viewpoints on so much. Our friendship kind of makes me think that opposites really do attract sometimes. I like having you around to balance me out.
I'm not gonna spread your business on here, but I hope you know how difficult it is for me to not be able to help you with _______________________________. I wish I could have given you better advice about it. I wish it hadn't happened to you. I wish there was a clear path to full recovery. I wish a lot of things.
I also am really really wishing that when you move away to Florida for med school we don't lose touch. Somehow you think being busy running a tournament in California is a good enough excuse not to talk to me...being busy living your life in Florida (or anywhere else for that matter) won't be. Fyi. So get ready for the long haul, sister.
<3,
Maya
PS Get ready to go oh so hard on your birthday. We're gonna party, well, like it's your birthday.
PPS I'm still amazed by your ability to combat small-Azn-female syndrome and actually hold your liquor. Well, I'm amazed by you in general, but that's another story.
*******
Dear K,
I find it really interesting that in the span of an academic year you went from being like, a familiar face I was glad to have in my Initiations group to someone I spend time with or talking to nearly every day and who I'm just not afraid to open up to. You always yell at me and threaten to stop studying at Quad with me because we get sidetracked into really great conversations that minimize the amount of actual work we get done, but as much as I tell you I'll try to do work and not be distracting, I really really value those talks we have. Even if I can't actually imagine you in Fubu and being called by your shortened name, I understand that you're one of the people who is from where I'm from [in lots of ways that aren't a physical space]. I can count on you to either have had similar experiences to me or totally feel me on mine even if you haven't. I'm continuously surprised by how easy it is to be real with you. You're also a really good listener and I have recently realized that you're a good judge of situations when I'm blinded by _______ and I should take your opinions of things into higher consideration sometimes. Don't think I don't value your opinion though, because I do...I just sometimes can't see that right away. Did you know in the course of a day once, both T and Ms. Renee referred to you as my other half? I laughed so hard, especially because you were not the one who should have had that title at the time, but it's a fairly accurate description of the amount of time we spend together as Dranglers. Like, how did I start waiting for you to eat dinner every night? I don't remember, lol, but I like it. I like how we laugh at the same places in movies. I like convincing you to have a little bit of fun every once in a while; I might even enjoy all the poking and prodding it takes to get there. You are HELLA RUDE sometimes but I've come to appreciate it most of the time; I like that I can play around with you. But then I also appreciate that you know how to be serious when the time calls for it and can bring me back to earth when I'm freaking out. I also think you're kind of just an awesome person: so smart, so driven, such a give-it-your-all kind of individual. You work so hard all the time. You're freaking working on CANCER RESEARCH. Give yourself a freaking pat on the back once in a while, k?
:D,
Maya
PS I still owe you a drink.
I'm disappointed that my comment did not seem to have made it through :P, though I can't remember what it was (it was in all caps though) ~B
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