To my friends,
I called this an open letter, but really, it's a thank you note. I don't want to be sappy, and I won't go too far into details, but regardless, I want to thank you.
Every single one of you, just by being who you are, has changed my life.
You inspire me. Maybe it's your beautiful, ever-evolving art. Maybe it's your deep knowledge of movies and TV shows and people you've never even met but adore anyway. It may be your love for poetry and the magic way you twist words to form a page-version of your pug. Or maybe it's your drive to expand your world, to go outside your box, to do what you've always dreamed of doing. I may be a motivation-less lump, but the way you each practice your passions and pursue the things you love or think you might love encourages me to do the same.
Your successes feel like success to me. When you overcome your nerves and make new friends, I am so genuinely excited for you it feels like my heart is growing like the Grinch's. I've never been one for being loud, but when you win awards, I want to scream out how proud I am of you. I want to see every first step and step after that you make.
I am not a very good person. I know I'm hard to deal with, hard to connect with and hard to be around. But because of you, because of every hug and kind word and funny message and everything you each are, I am improved. I can be happy. I can be good. I can feel like something more than myself because you let me in and make me feel loved and like I can love.
Thank you for sticking with me. Thank you for being kind. Thank you for caring about me. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for being yourselves. In a world that's dark and full of everything terrible, you are brightness and you are a ray sunshine.
Thank you, and with every atom in my body, I love you.
-keith
