Friends, they come and go

Seasons change from sun to snow

Places and faces fade with the glow

And what could have been?

We’ll never know…

One deep breath

To cleanse my soul

One deep breath

To rid myself of the past

One deep breath

To forget it all…

To me, the Great Gatsby has been my favorite book of all time. “The exemplary novel of the Jazz Age” as the back cover says. I fell in love with this book when I first read it in 7th grade. It was required for a book report, so I chose it without knowing what kind of book I was going to get into. It tells the story of Jay Gatsby and his love for Daisy Buchanan, set in and out of the lavish parties of 1920s Long Island, NY. To me, this love story has impacted me in such a way, that I always dreamed of something like it. I remember being young and in love, and jealousy running rampant in unstable and treacherous relationships. I went in into every single one with my heart on my sleeve. And I never looked or turned back ever. I decided and made the choice that in the process of falling in love, you were supposed to get hurt and you were supposed to suffer some to see the end result of your commitment and devotion to that person. Sadly, I was wrong. Love is not supposed to hurt. Nor are you supposed to do stupid things for it. You are supposed to let it come to you and when you really feel it, never let it go. Because it is true, sometimes it only happens once in a lifetime. “Just like an arrow through my heart, a feeling so strong”…are lyrics from a Tiger Army song called “Cupid’s Victim”. Yes, I’ve been a victim of cupid so many times. I can’t even count on my hands how many times my heart has been hit by cupid’s arrow. And you know something? I don’t regret anything at all. No remorse or hate whatsoever. In actuality, I am grateful that I have grown and learned from my experiences as a young lover. Being 17, 18 and giving in, caving in, to wishful thinking can be a recipe for disaster. Or it can be magical. Sometimes, it felt like a fairy tale. It was so perfect, so unreal, that you had to say: pinch me because this isn’t happening and I’m asleep and dreaming. And there we are again: Dreaming. Young lovers must learn to be honest and truthful with each other. They must learn that love is not a joke. It is something so beautiful a million words on paper wouldn’t be enough to describe it. And calling myself a giver and a taker, I made mistakes. I was a mess. “I’d throw away everything I’ve given you, anything just to keep my mind off of thinking how I had you once, oh, I can’t forget that. Sometimes I wish I could lose you again”. What does that mean? Well, I can explain. To me, emotions can be so deceiving. Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. You sit there waiting for a call or a text, anything, and yet nothing at the same time. It’s better sometimes to avoid these kinds of situations for the sake of staying sane. How many times have I cried myself to sleep over a fight or missing that special someone so much? Countless times. And still, a million tears won’t fix anything or solve your problems. So now we come to the moving on part. How do you mend a heart that has been broken so many times? You make the choice to let it all go. Why? Because you have to when there is no point in holding on to the past. That’s why it’s called the past. But remember that without it, we are nothing. It sits there in the back of our mind just to remind us of who we were and what we lost and who we loved and what we gave. In return, the future sits there waiting for us to unravel it. “Hurry up, go on ahead, good things won’t let you wait…” it’s true, good things won’t let you wait. So hurry up and go get them. One day, maybe one day, things will be set right in the universe. And the stars will align with the planets and just like the butterfly effect, we will be allowed to venture into our past lives and change one thing and then that little thing will, in exchange, change everything in our future for better or for worst. Depending on our commitments, I end this letter with something very positive. At 18, I learned everything in life that one must learn. Now, I am living a second life. At 24, it’s not too late to start over again. With new faces, new places, new smiles, and new tastes. Even at 28 or 32, it’s never too late for anything. Remember the key word of this letter: love. Joe Strummer says that without love, without each other, as human beings, we are nothing. And that we need to fall back on that and really think about where we are heading in this world. And girls, remember, you don’t have to be the prettiest. Just know what you’ve got. Know who you are and walk with confidence. Be proud of the way God made you. And remember that outer beauty is only temporary. Inner beauty lasts for eternity. A beautiful mind is a beautiful soul. Enjoy being young and give more than you receive. In the end, it will all pay off. Trust me, it will. And us guys, we have to learn how to treat women right, with respect and dignity. Let us not forget our manners and how our parents raised us either. We have to be men. Men of honor and strength. We have to protect what is ours and our families. Whether you have kids or not, you have to realize that women are not commodity, as neither is life. We are here for a reason. To live it to the fullest and enjoy our little time here on this small little world we call planet Earth. “Little girl, you’re in the middle of the ride, everything, everything will be just fine”. It will be for all of us.

            “I see it around me, I see it in everything, I can be so much more than this. I said my good byes, this is my sundown. I’m going to be so much more than this. I also need you to show me the way from crazy, because I want to be so much more than this. With one hand high, you’ll show them your progress. You’ll take your time but no one really ever cares…”