Dear Sophomore

conversation to younger college self

dear sophomore:
remember her, that pesky lonely jumpy freshman, she wants to hear your story, to know that she will be alive to live it.

dear freshman: you will not envy yourself midway through next year. you will not envy the backs of your eyelids making kaleidoscopes out of the arms you love, to a background of all before and what could be ahead....heartbreak feels like weak glue

dear me: i think you look beautiful tonight. your wealth is unparalleled when the sun is falling behind the gold-tinted, fading red locks framing your eyes, and you are smiling, happy. “this is why i am alive” you will whisper under your breath, afraid to open your eyes again…the sooner you do, the sooner you fear you will feel it slipping away and leaving your chest cold and heavy, again.

open your eyes. there is beauty, i have witnessed some of the best of it. my heart would break for you to miss a single second of it, to know anything less than the full rainbow of every sunset for which you are breathing. may it warm your heart and stir the paints you have left dormant, restring your easel.