To the People I Love That I Haven’t Kept in Touch With:
You may be extended family members, friends I’ve known for many years or maybe just one. At some point in my life, you were a prominent figure in my daily routine, or someone whose visit I looked forward to all year. We have fond memories together, moments we shared that shaped us into the people we are today.
I want you to know that I haven’t forgotten those moments. I want you to know that I think about you, and wonder how you’re doing. I know. I have a piss-poor way of showing that. I write broad, open-letter articles for online publications instead of just writing you, individually. I take too long to respond to messages or texts, and forget to call you back. I’ve been a shitty friend lately, and for that I am deeply sorry. If you are mad at me, you have every right to be.
I am not trying to make excuses. Sure, I’ve been busy, but I’m sure you have too. Maybe you’ve also not kept in contact with me as much as you’d have liked. I don’t hold anything against you. If we are really the same people we were, fundamentally, when we saw each other last, we’ll pick everything up as we left it, as if the time we spent apart never happened.
Maybe we aren’t the same people, though. Maybe I haven’t seen you in years, or maybe something happened between us that’s been hard to reconcile. I might still be healing from it and you might be too. This could just be the space we need to nurse our wounds, and one day we’ll come back to each other and politely ignore each other’s scars.
Then again, we might not. Maybe we’ll drift apart, and not speak again until we run into each other years from now: both of us caught off-guard. We’ll make small talk in the produce section, say it was good to see each other and go on with our lives. Maybe we’ll take it the extra step and make plans that we’ll inevitably cancel, as we will many times. If this is the case, it’s probably for the best.
Sure, we might not even know each other now, but we still have those times we did spend together, the memories we’ll always share. There’s no point in beating a dead horse. The best we can do is put it to rest.
Love,
Eleanor
