This is one of my favorite places in Ithaca. It's the top of the parking garage next to the library.
I'm not so very sure what it is about this place, but ever since I began working for INHS I've been bewitched by it. I don't know . . . Maybe it has something to do with the view I have of this place every time I leave work. Maybe. I mean it stretches up over the buildings otherwise obstructing my view and stands out, alone, against the skyline. For some reason I've just always enjoyed that view. I could stand in the parking lot and stare up at it for a very long time (I was going to say "forever" but that felt a little melodramatically emphatic).
In any case, I love this place. I'm sitting up here as I write this, and every time I pause from writing I can look out over the top of this city that's become my home town (and isn't that a strange idea? That you stole me from the West and now Ithaca feels like home to me. More so than anywhere else I've lived, in any case).
Do you remember that one movie I made at school—Snap? I'm just sitting here and remembering that for part of that movie I had to sit on the very edge of the top of that parking garage in downtown Provo. The thought of that still gives me vertigo (man I was willing to do anything for film back then . . .).
Anyway—sorry it's been so long since I've taken a chance to write to you. I do love talking to you. I do love sharing things with you. I've never had a friend like you before, and I hope that I never take that for granted.
I'm listening to the Goo Goo Dolls as I write this. I still like their music, but I definitely loved their music back in high school. They were making the perfect emo style music for teenagers before emo was a thing. I remember that every great love story movie had one of their songs in it for a while there. I even used one of their tracks for what you could consider the "emo" portion of that video I made of me and Dallas and Tyson and Jared in Utah.
Seems hard to believe that I'm 35, now that I think of that trip to Utah. Life certainly has sped up on me and I can't hardly believe so much life has passed me by. Youth certainly didn't prepare either of us to react to adulthood as I think we'd've liked—but man what a great life we have with these kids. How blessed I am to share this family with you!
Thank you for loving me through every storm and every ray of sun. Thank you for your smile. Thank you for that grimace-y smile you do when I'm taking your picture. Thank you for laughing with me. Thank you for laughing yourself to tears when we watch HIMYM. Thank you for introducing me to HIMYM. Thank you for being everything I know about the deep parts of being happy.
Thank you for being you.
I love you L.
.PtB
