I Hope You Dance

Words: 780

January 16, 2025

Dear Me,

It's nice to see you entering this contest again. For some years now you haven't entered because you thought your letters to yourself weren't real – that they were written merely to meet the prompt and not to actually help you. So, welcome back.

Before we go on, we need to acknowledge the recent changes in your life. You lost your beloved father on November 14, 2023, and have been living alone since. This has been huge, and I must say I'm proud of how you've adapted to the altered circumstances. You've allowed yourself to grieve and to move on. You've accepted everything you felt - from sadness to liberation. Yes, liberation, because you no longer need to remember Dad's medications, his allergies, his idiosyncrasies. It is possible to grieve a loss and feel free at the same time and I'm so glad you've managed to find a balance between the two.

You've continued with your Harry Potter meetings and other workshops and even taken up part-time work doing library activities at a school. You met your Writing.Com goal of reaching the 1,000 CR mark.

On a personal level, there has been a big breakthrough with the workshop you attended on 'healing old wounds'. You've understood some things about yourself that baffled you before and you have a new energy that people say actually shows on your face. You managed a 24-hour train journey to visit extended family and were part of a 70-member gathering to celebrate the New Year. You haven't visited extended family ever since your retina detached, leading to the inability to take a flight anywhere (cabin pressure). You met some people after decades, and some youngsters for the first time. You felt loved, you felt valued. People appreciated the effort you'd put in to be there. I hope you're proud of yourself. My goodness, you even picked up a mic and sang at the party – you who were scared to sing 'Happy Birthday' thus far!

Now for the goals, professional and personal:
1. a. Keep up with the part-time job. The Principal has already agreed to the changes you say you need made, for next term. So – go for it! Make a difference to children's reading. You already know from past experience how richly rewarding this is. Be grateful you're getting the platform to do it.
1. b. You've already started networking and building up partnerships to do other creative events. Getting an audience for this is proving difficult, your events being experiential and not necessarily 'marketable'. People like them when they attend them, it's getting them to attend that's the problem! Keep at it, girl, keep at it. You were almost in tears of frustration about this in the morning, having heard there's only one response so far to Sunday's workshop. There are a few days between now and Sunday, more people may sign up. And if they don't, well, give that one participant such an experience she'll bring friends next time! Chin up, girl, chin up.
2. Do something about the house. Now that the therapist has given you some keys to unlock your earlier resistance and fear, work on this. There is no reason to hold back now. Make the house nice enough to be able to invite people over for coffee, and maybe even (gasp!) to stay. Yes, yes, that might not actually happen this year. Don't get overwhelmed. But do take the first step. You KNOW you can, Sonali, you know you can.
3. Your one remaining goal on WDC was to place in the only official contest where you haven't placed yet - this one. Otherwise you've met your WDC goals - CR, Quill Award, 200 Newsletters, 366-day login, 2024 being a Leap Year. Your login streak broke on Jan 2 because you didn't have network while traveling! Anyway, you've turned that round and are going to use it as a reminder of your trip! So your 'goal' on WDC is to have fun and interact with the community you love, regardless of numbers or specific parameters. Oh yeah, and to keep up the premium-plus membership so you don't lose the audio items with Dad's voice on them.

What is it about 'I Hope You Dance' that is attracting you so much these days? Do you wish your life so far had been more like that? You can't change the past, you know that. But the present is a gift and you make the future. So if you want to dance, dance, girl, dance. Never mind if you have two left feet!

Here you go.
Listen once again, and remember, I love you.

Lots of Lve,
Me.