Letters from San

The situation: your closest friend went quiet this spring, right when life got hard for you. Not mean. Just gone. You typed ten versions and sent none.

What you typed:

“Hey!! No pressure, I know you're busy!! Just checking in lol.”

Says nothing. You knew.

What you'd send at 1am:

“When I needed you, you were nowhere. Don't reply if it's another 'sorry, been busy.'”

True. Also a door slammed.

What I'd write:

“Hey. I don't want this to sit unsent another month, and I don't want it to land as an attack.

You went quiet right when things got hard for me. I don't know why, and I won't ask. I just didn't want 'I'm fine' to keep lying for me.

I miss you. If you want, call this week and we start wherever. And if that stretch was weird for you too, you can tell me. I can hear it.”

One rule does most of it: say the fact, not the verdict. “You went quiet” can be heard. “You abandoned me” has to be argued with.

Send me yours: who it's for, what happened, and one true thing about them. san-14 (at) ilands.app