D.C.A. -
It was summertime. Morning. The lawns were all mowed and it smelled like breakfast and honeysuckle flowers. We sat together outside for a little while and we laughed, whispering sweet nothings to each other, not realizing that that moment was the beginning of a story that would last for years. That summer I fell in love with you under the oaks and dogwood trees, leaning against the stucco walls on the side yard of our houses counting stars and searching for constellations in the sky while we explored beaches and cliffs.
When I think about you, I think of you standing there in your blue jeans drinking black coffee while the sun peaks over the hills. You remind me of vinyl records and driving with the windows down, my hair blowing in my face while we laugh and sing ridiculously loud in the car. You're a sweet memory to always have lingering in the back of my mind.
You've been there every step of the way getting ice cream in my hair, carving my name on trees looking over the ocean, helping me move in to school, endless trips from home to San Diego to pick me up or take me to my favorite little sushi spot or bookstore, and feeding my hot cheeto addiction at 11 pm when I beg you to take me to the gas station to get me a bag because hot cheetos are, well, bae. But, with that said, thank you for all the little moments we have shared together.
People ask me all the time how four years have passed and how we haven't gotten sick of each other yet. The truth is, we laugh together. We are always laughing. You bring out spontaneity in me and encourage me to be the girl riding a skateboard in my beloved brown boots, pulling a beanie on and running with the dogs at the dog park, and getting in on the inside jokes around your friends. You've always encouraged me to be creative and to be myself, but I feel like the time spent together has allowed us to grow and for me to become the girl I am today.
We write each other letters often, but I finally thought I'd mix it up and write you something besides snail mail. I never thought that when I was sixteen I would meet someone that would stick with me through years of my life. That boy I met and sat on my driveway with when I was 16 is still in there somewhere, but the man you'd become over the past few years is truly amazing. You have such an amazing ease when you're around people, you're talented and interesting, you go out of your way to make me happy, and you always make me laugh (you always find the most random ways). We compromise, we have our moments where we bicker, but you are truly my best friend and I am grateful to be able to say that I am in love with someone who doubles as my best friend.
I just wanted to say thank you for the three a.m. phone calls just to say hello, for the hours you've spent watching me scratch illegible writing in sketch books, for drinking beer at the beach with me, for pulling me into the ocean, for putting up with my Popsicle toes, and for making every song our song. The truth is that somewhere in between the first time I smiled at you over that cup of coffee and when you came home from France to me that we would be together for a long time, but I never expected almost four years and counting. Thank you for making each day amazing.
I love you to the moon.
XX,
