Letters To My Future Husband: Letter #173.

Dear Mr. Melissa Blake:

I like to think that life is made up of moments. Our journey through life is a series of moments strewn together to form some sort of cosmic puzzle — is that getting too philosophical, Sweet Pea?

I don’t mean to get all deep and analytical, since I figure enough of my letters to you are already like that, but there is something to be said for taking all these moments in and not letting them pass you by. After all, we go through both good and bad moments in life. Some moments we’d love to relive again and again (like the time I was published in Redbook!) and some moments (like my father’s suicide) we’d just as soon never think about again.

Sometimes I feel as though I’ve already lived a lifetime of moments, and back here in 2015, we haven’t even met yet! I don’t feel like I’m the same person I was five years ago — or even the same person I was one year ago. I suppose time has a sneaky way of doing that to you, even when you’re not even aware of it. I do wonder what sort of moments you’ve lived through so far. Maybe you moved around a lot as a kid. Maybe you were a nerd in high school. Maybe you got your dream job right after you graduated from college. Which ones are you most proud of and which ones are you more than happy to say goodbye to?

There are SO MANY possibilities. Frankly, thinking of all the permutations is enough to make your head spin. But the one thing about moments? The thing I’ve absolutely, positively come to love about moments?

They’re all sort of universal.

Think about it: You can’t help but be changed by all those moments you accumulate over the course of your life. Yes, we each might experience individual moments that seem so unique to us at the time, but I’m pretty sure there’s a universal component to said moments. We’re changed by every moment, and every moment informs who we later become. And I don’t think that’s something we can ever escape from, not matter how hard we try.

I’ve always loved this sentiment: You can either let moments define you or you can define moments. It sounds simple, maybe even a bit naive, but maybe that’s the beauty of it. What an optimistic way to look into the future, don’t you think, Sweet Pea? Until we meet… xoxo

[Photos via We Heart It]