Dear son,

You are only a year old, but I know who you are. You are kind, brave, sweet, caring, strong, and fun. Throughout your life, you may grow tired and unsure of what to do. In those times,believe in who you are.

You may say something mean to someone. You may break a heart, or a promise. You might abuse a person. In those moments, you are not being yourself. Remember that you are kind. Go to that person, apologize for forgetting yourself, and do what you can to make it right.

[to the f u t u r e]

It still comes as a surprise, how much time we share. Oh, sorry, not you we. We dear-my-friend and I, and don’t you two know each other? His self-described nomadic lifestyle both gave you a relationship and strained it. But I started out about something else you know—time. Specifically the time he makes to wait to talk to be kind. All of it is good and right down to my bones. Even, would you believe, the time he takes to leave me.

 Dear Ben,

Thank you so very much for creating Apricotpie.com. I have grown into a new person through this site. I have made friends almost closer than the ones I’ve been close to my entire life in person, and matured in my writing more than through anything else. I have become a poet when I thought I was not and I have fallen in love with writing more than ever before.