Dear Dave,
I really had no idea who you were when a mutual friend first told me about you. She told me we would be good for each other, and although I was rather cynical of her claim initially, I decided to give love a shot with you and so I drove an hour up to see you for our first date.
I didn’t have high expectations going into it. I don’t even think I had any expectations at all, really. I just thought of it as another excuse to take a stroll and finesse some food at the nicest looking restaurant in sight.
But when I got out of the car, and I saw the way the sun shone down on your trees, and got a whiff of your cow-dung perfume, I was suddenly blindsided by love.
Immediately, I pictured a future for us. Saturday mornings spent together eating Fat Face breakfast sandwiches in Central Park during the farmers market, dressing myself in apparel with your name written all over it, laying in your arms in the Arboretum for a blissful nap after a long day of classes… I could see it all so vividly.
We talked for a few months after that, and suddenly things got serious; you proposed to me with that acceptance letter on our five-month anniversary and I immediately said yes. Was it a rash, quick decision? Do our elders think we are crazy for moving so quickly? Yes and yes, but we were young and wild and oh so madly in love! (Also, you’re on the quarter system, so moving quickly is just kind of a part of who you are.)
Yet lo and behold, our honeymoon phase came to a sharp stop when I started to see the flaws in you that I was quite blind to before I moved in with you. For example, I hadn’t noticed before that sometimes your temperature could rise to as high as the crevice of Diablo’s derriere. Or how much of a nuisance your turkeys are after almost getting into a handful of lethal car accidents because of their unannounced, spontaneous struts down your roads.
But these flaws are what make you what you are. They may not be blessings but they’ve certainly served as lessons regardless. It’s because of all my encounters with these turkeys why I am now enlightened upon the mindset the pilgrims probably had when they decided to victimize the turkeys as the main course for their Thanksgiving dinner.
All jokes aside my fair sweet Davey, being with you has made me the happiest I have ever been. You have given me the resources and opportunities to grow not just intellectually but emotionally. You have introduced me to the most beautiful crowd of people I have ever met in my entire life. A crowd who is so humble, aware, genuine, and good-natured is a crowd that I am thankful to surround myself with every day.
Through the best of times (e.g. 7am Picnic Day), and the worst of times (e.g. 5pm Picnic Day), you remain the one that I hold nearest and dearest to my heart.
With love,
Simba
All pictures taken by Mariana Huben