Dear 21-year-old me,
Thank you for dropping me off at such a good place in my life. Never, absolutely never, have I felt so loved. Never have I felt so beautiful. Never have I felt so right as I do right now. Dear younger me, thank you for withstanding so much silly heartache, for that painful hangover a year ago today, for surviving the inevitable monsters and for welcoming in so much light. You did well and it gives me hope that present you will go much further still.
Good job for graduating college! Keep learning or your brain will stop working. Keep loving or your heart will stop beating…figuratively, of course, but lets not take any chances on that. Keep striving for truth, honor and badassery.
Sincerely grateful,
Melisa @ 22
Shy
Your shyness is beautiful.
Your gentleness and hesitance
The trembling of restrain
The whispered thought
The silent laugh
The fire, lightning,
The rumbling, the hunger,
The shaking tension.
Dear spirit, quiet ghost,
Closer.
Closer.
Closer that I may hear the drums,
The oceans, the whirlwinds.
Closer so that your quiet
May deafen me.
-Melisa Im
[Image: “The Sound of Silence: Leaf” protected by a Creative Commons license belonging to fotologic]
Illustrated by Meli 