Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Day # 20 The Person That Broke My Heart The Hardest

Dear Jason,

I think if you were reading this letter you would be surprised. After all, I was already broken when we started dating. I think that probably had a lot to do with why you hurt so much. I was happy with you. I loved you. You never loved me.

You made me feel like I was deserving of love again but then you didn't really love me at all. You made me feel special and wonderful and desirable. Then you didn't want me. I just wasn't important enough. I didn't even make your top ten.

I understood that I came in second to school. We were in high school and we were both there because it was a stepping stone towards the lives we wanted. I understood that your friends and your family were important. They were important to me too. I even understood when you couldn't find time to spend 10 minutes talking to me before or after practice. I understood that basketball, soccer, track, chess club, latin club, math team, all of it was equally important to you.

You just didn't think I was important. I couldn't compete with all of that. And I didn't even try to. I just asked to be on the list of things and people that meant something to you. And you said, "I don't think I can give 100% to this relationship." I asked if I was important and demanded to know yes or no and you said, "Its not that black and white." I wasn't even asking you for more of your time. Just an acknowledgment that I was someone you cared for.

Maybe it was my fault. Maybe I let you know how i felt too soon. Maybe I didn't play it cool enough. Or maybe I just came off as too clingy. I don't know.

All I know for sure is that I will never let anyone make me feel like I don't matter again.

Thanks for showing me that I do matter.

Dani

Monday, October 25, 2010

Day # 19 The Person That Pesters My Mind

Dear Isaac,

This letter has been coming for a while. Part of me thinks I shouldn't even be writing it. Writing it means admitting that I think about you. Writing it means admitting that not everything I think about you is bad. Much of what I think about are the good things. Those hurt more than the bad.

Good Things:
1) Books! I miss talking about books with you. I miss swapping books and ideas back and forth. I miss having long conversations about what we were reading and making suggestions of other things the other might enjoy.
2) The way it was always so fun to talk to you. You managed to challenge me intellectually while making me laugh.
3) Passing notes. I liked passing notes with you. It was fun. I kept them all for a very long time. I only recently threw them away in an attempt to forget about the past. But sometimes I don't think forgetting is a good idea.
4) Being friends. And being more than friends for a while. Before it got creepy, it was nice.

Bad Things:
1) Stalking me
2) Calling me names
3) Guilting me
4) The way we would fight, you would apologize, we would be distant for a while, everything would be better and then we would fight again sometimes about nothing. Sometimes we fought just because you were in a bad mood or because I was making you think about what could have been or because I was thinking about what could have been or because you were angry at how things were and I wanted to help you.

I go back and forth between the list of good things and bad things in my head. You seem to float in when I am not thinking about other things. Sometimes things remind me of you. Sometimes I am just thinking about high school. Sometimes you show up in my writing. But I wonder about you a lot.

I wonder if you are doing ok. I wonder if you are finally clean and back on your feet. I wonder if you know that I know about almost everything that happened to you after we stopped talking. I wonder if you know that what you did to yourself hurt me more than what you did to me and what we did to each other. I wonder if you know I considered you my best friend in high school right up until I realized that best friends don't treat each other as terribly as you treated me. I wonder if you knew I had nightmares about you. I wonder if you know I thought about leaving the state because of you. I wonder if you have wondered about me and if you are keeping an ear out for news of me as I am keeping an ear out for news of you.

Mostly I wonder if the good things are worth giving you another chance. Not a second chance but 1 millionth chance because we both know I gave you thousands before.

You say you have changed. You apologized. I am sorry I made you go through reliving what was going on, on my end before accepting that apology. But I wanted it to mean something. You have apologized so many times before and it has meant nothing. I want it to mean something. I want to know that you have genuinely grown as a person and genuinely want my forgiveness for what you did. I want to know that you want to work at being a better person and at treating me better. I want to know that if I let you back into my life you will never make me so afraid that I refuse to leave my house ever again.

But I can never really know and that scares me.

Before you I was always sure of people. Of their potential to be amazing. Before you I was sure of who to trust and who not to trust. I can no longer trust my instincts about this. I care about you. You were my best friend. I can not trust myself because I know that caring clouds my judgement.

I am still so afraid of your ability to make me hurt. Fear is supposed to be good because it makes us cautious. I was never cautious before you. And in some ways I miss who I was before you. In many ways I wish I could get her back.

That is when I wonder if I miss you or if I miss who I was when we were friends. Then I realize it is both.

I wish you could answer these questions for me. But I fear that only way for us to ever truly move on and be friends again is to relive our past. And if that goes badly I don't know if I can come back again. Do you know of another way? Is that what you want? Do you want to be my friend again? Is that why you apologized to me? Did you think that it would be easy? Or simple? Can you answer any of my questions better than I can? I wish you could.

Only More Confused Now

Dani

Day #18 The Person I Wish I Could Be

Dear Me,

You are so kind and respectful of everyone. You never feel anger or hatred towards anyone. I love that you are able to see people for who they are and accept them unconditionally. I love that you never react with violence or anger but always with kindness. You bring out the best in people. I am not sure how you do it.

And you always do it while looking your best. You are always your best no matter what. You never have a day when you are too angry and sad to deal with people in the way that they should be dealt with. You never take things out on people who don't deserve it. You are never tired or lonely or feeling particularly anti-social. You always seem to be exactly where you should be.

You never get tired of your family. You never feel angry at your mother for constantly nagging you, or at your father for not showing any real interest in anything you do at school. You never feel hurt that your grandmother can be so old fashioned and set in her ways or frustrated by your step-father's many ways of not seeing the larger picture. You always stand up for your step-mom and your dad when your mom or others are trash talking them. And you always recognize the ways that your mother tries to manipulate you and manage to navigate them without feeling guilty.

You also manage to keep yourself and your apartment clean. You are more healthy now than you have been in ages. You eat right, go to the gym regularly and take care of yourself. All while making everyone else feel that they come first. How you manage to do all of this and get your school work done is a completely mystery to me.

You also never neglect your own personal writing or the books you want to read. You still manage to find time for persuing your own interests. Often I feel like there must be 10 of you or maybe you just no longer sleep. However, you are doing it. Please keep on.

Sincerely,

The Girl Who Wishes She Were You

Day # 17 Someone From My Childhood

Dear Coty,

If there was ever one relationship in my life that has never changed, ever, it would be my friendship with you. Our interests growing up included, the Titanic, acting, Harry Potter, writing, traveling and the outdoors. In some ways these have changed but we are still best friends. Better than that we are best cousins!

I wish that we had had our chance to go to school together. I think we would have had a lot of fun doing plays together and traveling. But in many ways I am glad that we didn't. In this way it is only natural that we should have different friends and some differing interests. It means that we got to grow up together without feeling like we grew apart.

And we haven't grown apart. Whenever we hang out we are able to pick up our friendship exactly where we left off. The old jokes and stories are still just as funny. We still need to compare notes on people we both know. We still find the same books, movies and plays interesting. Although, I am not nearly as interested in broadway show tunes as you are, I can see why you like them so much.

It seems though that I have always been destined to go the way of the artist or the starving teacher and you to go towards science. We both want to help people but you want to be financial stable. No one can blame you. No one can blame you for going to school out of state either. I wish I had had the courage and ability to do so. I am extremely jealous of the places you have been. But i am glad that you allow me to live vicariously through you a little bit.

I hope that we stay friends for the rest of our lives. You were my first confidant and still are the person I tell most everything to.

Lots of Love

Dani

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Where Bullies Come From

‎"Dear America, when you tell gay Americans that they can't serve their country openly or marry the person that they love, you're telling that to kids too. So don't be shocked and wonder where all these bullies are coming from that are torturing young kids and driving them to kill themselves because they're different. They learned it ...from watching you."

~Sarah Silverman~

Day #16 Someone That Isn't in My State or Country

Dear Justy (yes, Justy deal with it, I am not calling you Justin),

How is Florida? You were the only person I could think that I know who lives in another state. Thus why I am writing this letter to you. That and you were a pretty awesome cousin. We weren't nearly as close as Coty and I were growing up but I like to think that you and I are still friends.

I hope you know that I am proud of you. I am proud of you for finding someone you really care about and being willing to go anywhere to be with them. I am proud of you for knowing that maybe college wasn't for you and making the choice to do something harder, enter the work force. I am proud of you for leaving the state. It was really brave of you to stroke out on your own like that and try to live somewhere new and foreign to you. I hope you know that all of your family is proud of you too. You have some guts.

I don't know that I will ever live somewhere other than Maine. I genuinely like it here. I like the snow and the summers. I like the water. I like the woods especially. They always seem so dark and foreboding until you really get to know them. In some ways, Maine still feels wildly untamed. Maybe though, I could go stay for a little while in some other place. Montana maybe. Or maybe I could try a big city. I do know that even if I don't live somewhere else, I want to travel. I want visit as many states as I can. Maybe some day I will come visit you in Florida. You make it sound amazing from everything you post on Facebook.

Anyway, this letter is for you, Jutsty. I just wanted to say that I am proud of you for being brave enough to try something new.

Hugs and maybe some love (just kidding, definitely some love)

Dani

Day #15 The Person I Miss the Most

Dear Dad,

Yeah, I miss you. And it is really all my fault. I went to school in Farmington, 2 hours away from you and an hour from mom. I took a job in Augusta, making it even easier to see mom more than I see you. I never try to visit on weekends any more. I just go to work, do homework and spend time with Garret. I see you on holidays and rarely in between. We don't really talk. I am not good with phones and neither are you. You are no good with Facebook despite having one and so there is not much communication there. I no longer have TV and even if I did I work every Sunday that the football games are on. Otherwise I am sure we would be texting back and forth about the game every Sunday.

I miss Patriots football, peanut butter brownies, bon fires, four-wheelers, hiking in the woods, trail clearing, working on the car, watching tv and movies together and chess games.

Plain and simple. I miss you, dad and it is all my fault.

Love You to the Moon and Back Again

Dani

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Day #14 Someone I Have Drifted Away From

Dear Becky,

Did you know it was going to be your name in that first line? In second grade and onward we were best friends. But sometime between when I moved to Chelsea to now we drifted apart. I am not sure if it was the distance or if it was your breaking off your friendship with Nikki that caused the rift but I do know that it is there. Maybe we have just grown up and apart. Maybe we just want different things in life. Maybe I am just too focused to remember old acquaintances anymore. I'm not really sure.

You are getting married. To a man that I have never even met. We always used to introduce our boys to each other. We used to size each other's boys up and give each other feedback. I don't think you have met Garret and I know that I have not met your fiance. I am not sure that I have the right to be an important person for him to meet anymore. I haven't really talked to you since you texted me to say that you two were engaged. And that was random. I don't even remember if you told me you were dating him.

Maybe then it is the communication between us that has caused the rift. But I feel like it is deeper than that. I didn't like that you stuck up for your boyfriend over your friend, Nikki. I don't care what he said. She said he came at her and she is your best friend. Friends before boys. If you hadn't picked him over her then maybe you two would still be friends. Maybe she and I would still be friends.

Maybe I am wrong to think that you made the wrong call. I have certainly drifted away from Nikki too. I think that she is way too dramatic for me. And I don't really want to deal with her. Maybe that was how you felt about her too. Maybe you just caught on before I did.

Maybe the whole distance between us is all my fault. I am trying to create a life for myself. Something new and as different as possible from the life I had in Orland. Maybe that I am pushing all the little reminders of my first hometown out of my brain. Maybe it is that I don't want reminders of what I once was hanging around too much. Maybe I just am trying too hard to bury the past.

Maybe I am over thinking this. All I know for sure is that we aren't the same people anymore. And I am not sure that we are best friends any more.

Your Friend,

Dani

Monday, October 11, 2010

Hope

“Hope will never be silent.”

~Harvey Milk~

Failure

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live
so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which
case, you fail by default.”

~J. K. Rowling~
Harvard Commencement Address, 2008

Love and Judging

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

~Mother Teresa~

Day #13 Someone I WIsh Could Forgive Me

Dear Heather,

I remember when we first met. Freshman college prep English I with Mrs. Bourget. That was probably the most boring class ever. It was the first day and I didn't have any friends and the teacher told us we should get into groups of 3. I turned to you and Tori Mann because you two were the closest and we got into a group. I remember you being surprised I knew your name until I admitted I read it on your bag. Back then I was bold because I had nothing to lose. I had no friends and I figured that things couldn't get much worse. It was lucky for me that I met you.

We have been through a lot together. You were there for me whenever I let you in. Sometimes, a lot. Sometimes, like when all the stuff with Isaac happened, it wasn't until later that I realized that I should have let you in. I went to Chizzle Wizzle every year to see you. I loved watching you dance. We ate ice cream and watched bad movies in my room when you and Joe McCarthy were breaking up. I hated him for you. I still hate him for you.

I think that is what you are doing now for me. Hating a boy for me. Except I love him. And I am still with him. He really does make me happy. I wish you could forgive him. I wish you could forgive me.

I know you remember me as bold. I know you remember me as dancing until I want to drop dead, skinny dipping in my back yard, singing at the top of my lungs in the car, matching mood rings and bright green headbands (because what the heck, I can wear anything right?) but I don't think you see me as stay at home and cuddle in front of the tv. I don't think you see me playing scrabble and making lame jokes out of the little brown tiles.

I think you hate him because you hate me. I think you hate me because I am not the same bold girl I once was. You and I caused so much trouble and spurred each other ever on to new trouble. But now, I think I feel safe to you. I think you hate me because I'm not the bold you remember. I haven't been bold in a long time. Not like I was freshman year in English class. Not since Isaac.

I think you knew I wasn't as bold after that. But I think you thought that college would make me bold again. I wish you could forgive me for not being that girl.

I know you have never said any of this. But I can feel the distance between us. You say you feel uncomfortable around Garret because you feel like he judges you for drinking. I think you feel uncomfortable around me because I don't and you do. I am not that bold and you are. We have always before been equally bold. We have always been trouble together.

Forgive me for not being trouble. I miss you, my wild child.

Love,
Dani

Day #12 The Person I Hate the Most

I hate you. There, I said it. I think I have used every other phrase that I could think of in order to describe my feelings towards you. But lets be honest. I simply hate you. I hate the way you look. I hate the way you smell. I hate the way you walk. I hate the music you listen to. I hate the food you eat. I hate the clothes you wear. I hate the way you talk. I hate the sound of your voice. I hate the things you say. I especially hate the things that you say. I hate the way you gesture with your hands to say that my words are unimportant. I hate the way that everything has to be done on your time and no one else's. I hate that I am always wrong and you are always right. I hate that condescending way you look at me. And I hate the way you make me want to crawl inside a dark hole and die. I hate that you made me feel like shit. I hate that everyone around me said you didn't know you did it. I hate that the friends I saw regularly at the time liked you. I hate that they defended you, over and over again. I hate that they encouraged me to keep my mouth shut. Yes, it was for my own good but I regret the many opportunities I had to say, "Go to hell you god damn fucking slut."

Most of all though, I hate that I thought, at first, that I was just jealous of your relationship with my boyfriend. I thought I just didn't like the way you were all chatty and funny and giggly with him but not with me. I thought I just hated the way you liked to pretend I wasn't in the room. Or the way you were silent when I was there. I thought I just hated that you got to spend time with him, going to see comedians and movies while I was at work. I thought I hated that I couldn't do those things too because I was always in class or at work.

I hated that you flirted with my boyfriend right in front of me and he passed it off as friendship. Truth is, you only put up with me because Garret wanted me around. If you could have gotten rid of me, you would have in a heart beat. And many times you did. I hated that I kept trying to be your friend, thinking that it was me with the problem and not you. Guess what, bitch, I win.

He is still mine.

Keep your dirty hands off of him.

Dani

Thursday, October 7, 2010

I Did Manage to Have a Dream Though...

I dreamed I was the daughter of a farmer. The farmer loved me very much and so was afraid that I would one day leave him. So he built an alarm system over the one drawbridge that led away from our farm and to freedom. Just across the drawbridge there was another farm. On that farm lived an Italian family that just recently moved there to start their own farm. This family had a son. A very handsome son who I would sometimes see working in the fields from my window and day dream about. One day very early in the morning my father realized that he had too many crops this year to be able to harvest them all on his own so invited he farmer and his son from across the drawbridge to come and help him. In exchange he would help them with their crops when the time came. Everyone agreed this was a good idea so that morning the three men returned to my farm and began harvesting the crops. Around noon that day, I went to take my father his lunch like I always did. He enjoyed eating his lunch outside under the sun when he was harvesting so he could get back to work as soon as possible. That was when I first met the boy from across the drawbridge. My father saw that we both liked each other and approved. Here was the boy who would not take his precious daughter away to somewhere, where he could never see her again.

Oh, how wrong he was.

I quickly fell in love with the boy and shortly after became ill. The doctors discovered small tumors in my brain. They removed them, they were cancer. They couldn't be sure they had gotten it all or that the cancer wouldn't come back. As soon as I was strong enough I ran away.

My Italian farm boy and I ran away together to Italy. Our first day there was amazing. We got ourselves a hotel room and then spent the day walking the streets, talking to street vendors and soaking in the sun. We visited ancient buildings and museums. We stayed outside all day. The sun set and the stars came out only to find us still walking the street of Venice. Finally we went home.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Go Do Homework!

I do not want to do my homework and I am using this to stall. I just did ton of cleaning and I really want to veg. I keep mentally kicking myself to get up but I'm not moving. Rawr...