A Letter To Myka

Dear Myka,

I think you’ve waited long enough for this letter. You know how I know that? Because I was on YouTube the other day and one of the recommended videos on the side was the song “I’ll Be Missing You” by Puff Daddy.

And if you remember, you once sent me a video of you “rocking out” to that song in your car.

So I knew that was a sign and not just a coincidence.

We’ve been friends now for about a year. Actually, it’s longer than that but you disappeared from the blogging world before returning last December, when you commented on my post about me walking in the cold for a pizza.

You shared a pizza story of your own and then told me you burnt your mouth on soup.

Food: Bringing People Together Since 194ever

Speaking of bringing people together, I remember you telling me early on that you wanted to be apart of the blogging family. Well, congratulations, you’re stuck with us!

I mean…er…you’re apart of it now.

Eh, who am I kidding? You’re stuck with us.

By the way, it is currently -8 degree Celsius here, which would be 17 degrees Fahrenheit. I should’ve mentioned that at the start. We normally start our conversations with the weather because we are sophisticated individuals.

Ha.

So yeah, it’s pretty cold. I wore socks to sleep last night for the first time since I was a kid, and tucked my pants into them. And then I woke up at 2:45am sweating like a polar bear in Aruba.

I was also really confused. I imagined that I was stuck in an airport and the plane I kept getting on was going back and forth from the same location. Neither location is where I needed to be.

That was going through my mind while I was awake. I’m weird.

I was also no longer tired. I was just bored. Tired of sleeping. But I couldn’t move. I’ve been sick for the last few days and moving didn’t seem like a fun activity. Eventually, I went back to sleep, only to wake up two hours later, wondering why the clock was so slow.

Question: Why do people feel the need to go places when it’s freezing cold outside?

Especially when it’s snowing. They know people can’t drive in the snow. They know they’re going to complain about the cold. They know all of this, yet they do it anyway because there’s a sale at the mall and heaven forbid they don’t get 15% off the latest thing.

Sorry, I’m ranting.

I’m not done ranting.

You know, just because something is on sale doesn’t mean it has to be bought. “But it’s 40% off!” Yeah, but it’s 100% off if you don’t buy it at all.

Just my five cents, though. People can do whatever they want.

Now I’m done ranting.

I can’t believe I’ve gotten this far without mentioning your cat, Zero! How is that little snowflake?

I think Zero could have a career as a model if he wanted. I’m thinking, Coke Zero. It’s too perfect. You have a bottle of coke and you have your cat. Put them together on a hammock with tropical music in the background, and bam, you have yourself some endorsement money!

Pass my idea along and think about it, okay?

Speaking of “pass”, remember how you told me about Donner Pass? Well, I was watching a documentary about the Zodiac killer a few weeks ago, and one of his victims was named Donna Lass. They suspect that he buried her at Donner Pass.

However, they didn’t figure that out at the time, which was in 1970. They finally figured it out this year and realized she was probably targeted because her name sounded like Donner Pass and the killer liked odd things like that.

Anyways, that made me think of you! Sorry it was so morbid. 

How in the world do I transition out of that, you wonder?

Hmm…let me try this.

On the count of three we’ll both think of an 13-letter word and then we’ll share our answers.

1…2…3…

Neighbourhood!

Is that what you were thinking? It was, wasn’t it? See, that was a successful transition after all. You don’t even remember the morbid story I just told you.

Now then, you wanted me to tell you about fairy tales. Quite frankly, I don’t really want to!

I wasn’t aware that fairies had tales or tails, for that matter, and don’t think my humour matches up with the genre.

So, instead, I’m going to tell a quick story about a dog named Bert.

Bert was a good boy. He had many friends and the mailman loved him. One day, Bert was walking around the house when he noticed something out of place. 

The End.

See, I told you it would be a quick story! 

You had asked me what my favourite thing about being a writer is. Honestly, I’m still trying to get used to people calling me a “writer”. I still refer to myself as “someone who has a blog”. I don’t know when I’ll feel official. 

I don’t know what my favourite thing is. Obviously, I enjoy the interaction with my readers and knowing that something I write can resonate with someone on a meaningful level. But I feel like that’s an external reward.

What I really like about writing is sitting down, and not really knowing how I’m going to say what I want to say, but figuring it out along the way. I often re-read my blog posts and wonder how I came up with the things I wrote. Honestly.

I can’t explain it. It’s like I sit down and put myself in a trance for an hour and just let my fingers do the work. When my mind can’t compute what I’m saying, I think that means I’m speaking from my heart. That’s a good thing.

This feeling of “I don’t really know how I wrote what I wrote” probably explains why I feel a bit uncomfortable when people call me a “writer”. Because I feel like a fraud.

I couldn’t possibly stand in front of someone and recite a blog post off the top of my head. It’s all in my fingers.

I don’t know if other “writers” feel that way, but I sure do.

This is the part of the letter where I start to wrap things up.

What a difference a year makes, eh?

Myka, you’ve been a great friend to me over the past year. And as your friend, I just want to tell you that I think you’ve made so much progress in your life over the last 12 months. I think you know that already, but it’s worth saying.

I’m glad I could provide you with insight on Canadian living and other wacky things that emanate from my brain. For some reason, you like those “wacky things”.

Keep doing you. Keep kicking derrieres. And keep taking names.

I wish you all the best in 2018 and I hope Zero finally gets that elusive endorsement deal from Coca-Cola.

Anyways, it’s been fun.  

With Puff Daddy playing in the background,

Luap