Dear Alice,

This past few weeks have been bad. I wish I could pretend that they weren’t and laugh it all away but I can’t, and besides it’s not like you don’t know that they’ve been bad. However, I think the events of today showed me that, even when things get bad, there is still light at the end of the tunnel.

Sure, sometimes I feel hopeless and lost, and for the most part that hasn’t changed, but I’ve learned to accept that sometimes bad things just happen. They don’t have to have any grandiose purpose or some great life lesson; sometimes they just happen and we have to deal with them.

Today my van got towed because I made a stupid mistake. I thought everyone would be mad at me or disappointed that I had made a mistake, but everyone was pretty chill about it and I got help from unexpected places. It was like the guy who told me where I could find it said: “hey at least you’re alive and your haircut looks nice.” I admit that the bar for good things has been severely lowered these past few weeks, but good things are still good even if they’re little things.

Sure I might still be alone and in a precarious situation, the winds might still scare the heck out of me, and I can’t kiss boys in public, but I’m alive, I have a roof over my head, food to eat, and a pretty nice haircut. I know I can get very down in the dumps about things very easily, but little things always find a way of lifting my spirits.

In honor of those movie Thanksgiving traditions where everyone goes around the table saying something that they’re grateful for because praying in movies is a big no-no apparently, I’m gonna mention some things I’m grateful for this day. I’m grateful for the sun, for cheez-its, for oat milk lattes, for cold sunny days, for friends who go out of their way to help you when you need them, for kind security guards and strangers, for flowers and plants, for good haircuts, and for you, dear friend.

I know I’m not the easiest to listen to, but you always do and I appreciate that.

Thank you for being a friend.

Love,
Alex