Dear you all,

This is a brief note to the characters who popped into our lives and made a profound difference without even knowing it. This goes out to the people whose roles in our stories weren’t particularly huge, but were ones which affected us remarkably much.

This is to the friend of a friend who mentioned a band in a facebook comment which in turn, ended up becoming one of our favourites. This is to our sisters’ teammate who once said a word in passing which has now ended up being a defining part of our vocabulary. This is to the cashier who, in the spirit of pleasant interactions, told an absurd joke which is now our go-to.

This is to the first person we ever saw wearing that thing that we decided we thought was the coolest ever. This is to the stranger who inspired how we’re wearing our hair today. This is to our favourite barista, whose smile is a welcomed comfort every time we go into the café.

This is to the person who sits across from us in the library in the same spot every Tuesday, who unknowingly gives us an incredible sense that we’re on the right track somehow. This is to the professor who finishes their lecture before one that we’re in, and whose ‘th’s twirl together on the blackboard in a way that we’ve now incorporated into our own handwriting.

This is to the man in the bank on the phone to his wife, whose laugh was silly enough to wake us up out of the heaviness that we were sombrely floating in. This is to the acquaintance whose take on a social issue was profound and enlightening, and which opened our eyes to it in a way that hadn’t been done before. This is to the parent who put paprika on a dish that they brought to a school potluck in 2012 – an ingredient which we hadn’t considered before, but now build meals around.

This is to the classmate who sits four rows behind us, whose comments resonate with us long after we leave the room. This is to the girl we were standing next to at a concert, whose complete freeness and genuine love of the music led us to decide to stop taking ourselves so seriously.

This is to every person who passed through our lives in stunning brevity, and whose brief time in our storyline modified it in a way which probably means that we’re never going to be the same again. It’s remarkable how much we gather over the course of our lives, and it’s wild how much of that comes from characters who may not make an appearance ever again in our stories.

This is to them. Wherever they are, may they also be inspired by other beautiful strangers and quiet characters. And wherever you are, may you be a source of inspiration yourself. You never know whose story you might be changing.

Thank you,
Keep well,
~Rebecca