A few years ago, I had the idea to write letters to people, especially women or female-identifying people, who have inspired me on my journey. These letters reflect and honor the people who have made a positive impact on me and provide small glimpses into my story as well. In doing so publicly, I hope to spread this grateful energy in case it resonates and further inspires. Below is the first letter, written some time in mid-March 2021.

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Dear C.:

Thank you for the role you play in paving the path toward a better future. 

The first lunch we shared was over a delicious mofongo in a restaurant down the road from my hotel in San Juan. It was a serendipitous and spontaneous meeting, and I am all the better for it. Since then, we’ve kept in touch with the occasional email and the phone call, but mostly through our social media, double tapping our way into the different chapters of our lives. I also recall meeting you randomly in a long and hectic airport security line after spending a Mother’s Day weekend in the mid-south. A short but heartfelt wave and hello later, and we were both on our separate ways.

You have shown me the possibilities of taking the path less traveled through your professional growth and personal journey. I moved to New York to build a life with my partner with greater confidence than I otherwise would have in large part because I saw you do the same. I’ll paraphrase a quote you once shared that resonated and inspired me: “She walked toward what made her heart light, and it was more of a dance and less of a fight.”

Through your words, your wisdom, your poetry, and your light, you have shown me that there is a brighter future out there, and from what I’ve seen and read from where I’m standing, you’ve done so with great heart and exceptional courage. Your gentle invitation to find what feels right, to pause and look around, to acknowledge and embrace the truth we hold inside, have beckoned me to follow my light and here I am, in full force, reborn and reinvigorated. 

They say, “If you can see it, you can be it.” Thank you for showing me the beautiful possibilities waiting for me on the other side of fear. Stay shining, stay bright.

Sincerely,

Melissa