Dear Bianca,

My love language has always been handwritten notes. So of course after receiving yours, I have no choice but to feel very loved (which is an understated relief for someone not always great at making choices). Furthermore, it is something that as of lately, I have been in desperate need of (made evident by the fact I burst into tears upon reading your note).

For the past month or so, loneliness has started to permeate my life in a way that is debilitating. It’s the kind of loneliness where sometimes I lay awake at night and wonder if I were to fall asleep and never wake up, how long would it take for anyone to notice and would they care once they did? Would the impact of my absence outlast the inconvenience and the shock of my absence’s newfound commitment to permanence?

Of course, I know that I am loved, but I am a Sagittarius with a Scorpio moon. I feel more and I feel first and sometimes I feel so much I cannot even remember what I know.

I think that’s why I adore writing so much. It is tangible and intentional and lasting. It is proof that someone had feelings strong enough to remember and abide, feelings that, whether they were mentioned or not, include the courage and kindness required to express and share them with another.

So thank you mi amor for the Valentine, for the note, and for the reminder that love exists long after the moment which cultivated it ends, that it will hold your hand until the next moment together arrives as long as you hold it back. You have made me braver and kinder and more hopeful. You are beautiful, inside and out, and this world, both as a whole and mine, are better with you in it.

I love you even more than I miss you,

Grace