Dear Q-tip Emu,

I wonder if you actually still remember this nickname. I know I've said it to you over the phone, but I am truly really, really thankful for you.

Thank you for reaching out here and there to encourage me.

Thank you for sharing with me your own struggles with cancer in your family.

Thank you for calling me as I could barely hold myself together, and didn't know what to do without my dad. Thank you for checking up on me and making sure I was doing okay, when you honestly didn't have to.

Thank you for being a constant in my life, despite our sporadic and sparse communication over the years.

It's funny sometimes how our we find our lives intertwining here and there. This definitely isn't what I thought it would be a decade ago. I had such a black-and-white. myopic perception of the world, and that tunnel vision led me down dark paths of frustration and self-righteousness. Thank you for letting me know that I don't have to be in control of it all, and that true friendship and chivalry are not dead. I'll always wish you the best :)