Correspondence

ME:

Andrew J. Peterson,
I hand-wrote this letter and asked your apology for my terrible penmanship, poor spelling, and ugly envelope. Then, I made my cousin accompany me to knock on every men’s-housing door at La Jolla at ten o’clock this Saturday night. I suppose I didn’t need to do that. I never found you to deliver this.
I guess I just wanted to thank you. Thank you for being a great pal, and you really were. You were quite tolerant of many things.
Thank you for letting me be myself. I feel as though you and I were tethered by friendship, but I was the one who ran to its fullest length, and you let me have enough room to be myself, the silly, dramatic, sensitive, emotional, wonderful, complex me. I was never afraid of that around you. I don’t know many people with that ability. You have perfected it in your 23 years.
Thank you for teaching me things, though many if not most of the things I learned from you were taught involuntarily. Thank you for teaching me that I have an infinitely-large bundle of love to give. Thank you for showing me how easy it is to be me around many different people. thank you for the confidence you gave me. Thank you.
I’m sorry for those times I didn’t speak to you last semester. I don’t even remember why I did that. All I remember is the sorrow I caused and felt. I’m so sorry that I caused hurt and confusion at those times. I’m so glad that you stuck around after that, despite my lost and juvenile actions.
I’m sorry that I called on your birthday. Yuck, I am so sorry that happened on your day, the one day of the year that ought to be all about ANDREW!!
I hope the world for you. I hope you have 97 more birthdays that are so full of love, encouragement, and pizzazz that you forget birthday 23. I hope everything goes well for you. And, when I say everything, I mean everything. I hope you find Chinese easier to learn. I wish you your twelve Norwegian children. I hope much uplifting words and cheers for you from your fellow game-of-life-ers.
I hope your semester goes well. I hope your roommates are brilliantly terrific. I hope your classes are fun and satisfying. I hope frustration is an infrequent visitor.
You show Luci who’s boss.
I love you. I’m glad we knew each other. Do well. Do well. Thanks for being there. I really wish much for you, old friend.
With all the sincerity that the universe can shove into something,
Victoria Barros
Goodbye.
Ps. You have every reason to be confident. You don’t have to fake it anymore.



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HE:

Sorry that you looked everywhere for me! I actually moved into La Jolla lived there for two days and it didn't feel right so after some long think I moved back to Cottonwood, same apt as last semester.

THANK YOU!! I honestly have been thinking what I would say to you if I saw you on campus if I would say/do something mean, say nothing at all, or just have a really awkward encounter...Now I'm not worried about it at all.

So there are a couple things I wanted to tell you: After our last conversation, I was kind of upset...so I decided to talk to my Momzi about the whole situation...I love her...funnily enough though after telling her the story she took your side haha I guess it takes a Woman to understand a woman. I was slightly taken aback by said position and wanted an explanation. So in her motherly wisdom she explained the whole thing to me so that I could understand...I'm SORRY that I was so insensitive to your feelings and that I sucked at trying to understand, I guess I am maybe a little stubborn.

Thank you for the things that you have taught me...some of them I just realized recently actually, for example: I love how confidant you are in your divine worth and potential I look up to you for how no matter what people say or think your still YOU pure unadulterated Tori..and lets be honest you're a rockstar!! Just the other day I realized "That is how God wants us to be, how he created us. And there is no reason to be ashamed of any part of us even our imperfections because they allow us to rely on the Lord" It gave me an explosion of confidence in myself as a Child of God with incredible limitless potential. THANK YOU, because you taught me that! along with many other things you were an example to me

You helped me through one of the hardest times I have had thus far in my adult life, and I know that God put us in each others paths to help one another thank you for being in my path. You really will never know the ways in which you helped me. I decided the other day if people were like fruits I would be like a peach...soft and vulnerable, open and trusting to everyone, but in the middle I have a hard pit that I keep guarded and it takes a lot to get it open...I always felt safe sharing thing with you totally and completely and you helped me to see that I could just be ME!!

Thank you for teaching me I really know nothing about women...guess I am going to have read a little more Jane Austen!

I hope that you can forget the "tough" times we've had and remember the good, I am glad that our goodbye is this instead of what it was. Now when I see you I will greet you as a friend who taught me much and changed my life. You are an incredible, trustworthy, loving, intelligent, fun and beautiful person and you help others recognize their worth.
Thank you for being YOU!
Andrew
p.s. I am not going to china anymore, I got internship in London!! I start in January! You never know what the Lord has in store