Compass

There are a lot of people on this earth but there are very few humans, as you say. Humans are special. You are a special human.

You are so inviting, open, and strong; the combination of these three is among your greatest qualities. You plan trips and activities for everyone, taking it on as if each day is a party, in need of celebration. All the while your care-free spirit is so evident that others mistakenly perceive it as booze induced.

You have asked me on multiple occasions, “What is our life?” to which I cannot usually begin to answer so please excuse my attempt to do so here, as I go through our last two inseparable weeks together.

I had no idea that the day we met we would dive into our shared struggles concerning head injuries and bond over our truly psychotic personalities.

Since I have met you the value I place behind pennies and naps has been reversed and what I consider a dancefloor rewritten. I have learned how to be impulsive (after dwelling on my decision for only 72 hours), eaten enough sweets to last a year, walked well over one thousand miles down dead end streets, joined a Bachelor party, become a native Portlander, gotten locked out of a bed and breakfast by a creepy cemetery, taken the night tube at 4:00 am, gained a new perspective for the service industry, been adopted into a polish biker gang, and rocked a pub crawl in sweats and a sweatshirt.

Nothing can top this or our suffocating laughter, bizarre encounters, and synapse building conversations.

I can no longer think of a London without placing you somewhere in it.

Or withhold from relating you to a little doggy who whines for affection. Maybe you are more like a dog than a human.

“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole” –Roger Caras

You have surely filled my life with more than just time during my stay here.

Keep ‘being needy’ for the love you give and deserve,

Riley Makenna