I truly believe that the greatest gift that you can give to another person is to genuinely let them know that who they are and what they do matters. It has been my goal in 2014 to become a more thoughtful person. A string of deaths to some individuals who positively affected my life led me to conceive this series. As the words to my favorite song go, “And for those who have stood by my side, you are the story I tell.” You are the words and pages to my story.
Over the course of the next several months, I will be writing open letters to those who have positively impacted my story. I’m not going to lie. It is my goal to make you cry, not out of grief or pain but out of the realization that you do truly matter. I am not doing this in order of how important you are to me. For the most part (other than birthdays or other important events), the letters will be done in a random order. I hope you enjoy, and I hope you come away from this with the realization that you are extremely important to me.
Dear Dan,
Before you worry, I don’t have your last name or any picture attached to this, nor did I tag you on Facebook. I know how much you value your online anonymity.
You are, without question, my oldest friend. Since our moms were in pregnancy class together, our friendship got a head start and got launched even before we set foot on this planet! We hit the ground running and never looked back.
When I think of the one friend I’d want with me to embark on any sort of crazy mission, I’d probably pick you for two reasons. One, you have a skill set that is conducive for success. You know how to do all sorts of things, both electronically and non-electronically. Secondly, you’ve always been extremely loyal and have followed me even on my craziest journeys.
It amazes me how our friendship somehow got stronger over the years. Sure, we were close during our SCCA years, but things picked up when we got to high school. I still laugh when I think about the things we’d do at Six Flags. I won’t forget our bowling and Pizza Hut outings, nor will I forget the year we roomed together at camp. Thinking about Cavallone screaming about seeing talking eyes at 3 AM is a memory that will always make me laugh.
Even as we got to college and beyond, our friendship grew. Most of my finest memories from the past 6-7 years involve your presence. From the trip to the random ski lodge in Lisle to see the first Graduate concert to the mini-road trip to Decatur that I will NEVER forget, your presence in my life was a steady force when most other things around me were falling apart.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up our vacation in 2009. Up until the last day, that was the trip of a lifetime. I can still remember most of it so clearly. To this day it amazes me that I did so many stupid things involving food, from the exploding Slurpee in Maryland to the greasiest wings ever in Florida. If you hadn’t been there, I would have lost my mind when everything fell apart on the last day. Thanks for keeping me grounded.
We haven’t seen each other in the past two years, which by my estimation is ridiculous considering we live within 15 minutes of one another. I know work and your relationship/impending marriage takes a great deal of your time. As an aside, it still blows my mind that my mom was right about you being the first one in our group to get hitched. But I am happy for you and where your life has taken you. You have always worked hard, and I am pleased and proud that your hard work has reaped the rewards you so rightfully deserve.
Even if we don’t ever see each other again in our lives (which I would personally find frustrating as I still have you penciled in for a slot as one of my groomsmen), you made more of an impact in the first 25 years of my life than most others could have made in 100. Thanks for being my friend, and thanks for loyally following me into some of my more unorthodox situations while letting me be me.
All the best,
Jakob
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