Dear Younger Kaila,
Happy Valentine's Day! I know you don’t have any strong feelings about this holiday, but it seems like an appropriate opening.
I feel inclined to keep stories of my Love Life™ from you because, well, there’s not much to tell (or is there?). Let’s just say a certain three-sided shape is a common theme…
I still haven’t had a date on this holiday and I think that's a relief. No dealing with crowded restaurants (a word which you’ve now learned how to spell). No dealing with another person who doesn’t have strong opinions on where or what to eat. No dealing with the crippling anxiety that comes from finding the gift to perfectly capture your love for someone. I can hear you rolling your eyes, younger me, so let me explain.
Think about Disney princess movies we watched as a kid; it wasn’t the romantic moments that stood out to you, was it? In Beauty and the Beast, it’s Belle sliding on the library ladder. In Cinderella, it was her dress changing colours at the ball. There have been times where you didn’t remember Orlando Bloom was in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise or that there was a prince in Ella Enchanted. To be fair, you are into women, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make.
Please stop thinking you need a relationship to complete you. When you watched these movies, the relationship was never something you yearned for.
If anything, your lifelong dream is having a library with a sliding ladder like Belle. You’re going to need somewhere to put your writing, anyway.
Love,
Me