An Open Letter to Heather

Dear Heather,

Once upon a time today you offered me a square of duct tape, and I was overjoyed, to say the least. I probably scared any younger children that might have been watching, what with all the happy exclamations, sincerely sincere hug, and the tears that almost fell from my eyes. I thought it might be slightly helpful if I explained my happiness.

Once upon a time in eighth grade, I was a professional weirdo. I wore five colors of eyeshadow a day and refused to sit in chairs at desks in my English and Yearbook classes. I also wore post it notes on my sleeve. I would place a post it note on my sleeve and just walk around all day, as if wearing a pair of earrings or tennis shoes with laces. Soon, my friends began to donate post its that read "It's her thang!" and other embarrassingly middle school phrases to adorn my arms with. Emblazoned with paper that was inked upon with love, I felt I could take on the world.

The second element enters a year and a half later during the Summer of Love. I had been dating the dear Micaiah for a month or two when the guard put together a car wash to raise money. One of the rotations at the car wash was stand on the street corner, wave posters and a banner flag from our upcoming field show, and call out to people to try to bring in customers that weren't members of our families. I took a turn out on the corner with my not-so-secret secret boyfriend, and we had a blast dancing and singing and gasping when little kids in cars glared at us on that street corner. Suddenly, we discovered a square of fluorescent green duct tape on the light pole. We stared at it, wondering who had any use of putting a small purposeless piece of duct tape on a random pole, until Micaiah peeled it off. He gently stuck it near my heart (still in a nonviolating spot) and smiled. He then hugged me on that corner in broad daylight, nestling his chin in my neck as I held a 15 foot flag in one hand. I nervously asked why he hugged me in public and he answered, "I can hug my girlfriend in public, can't I? After all, I am kind of a bit in love with her." We spent the rest of the day spraying each other with hoses and styling my hair into a foamy mohawk and eating imaginary Mexican food. The green duct tape a post it note replacement for a day and then set up shop on a lamp I decorated with Beatles stickers, filled with fake flowers and beads instead of a light bulb, and painted quotes and the names we picked for our "someday future" children painted with nail polish. I still have the tape to this day.

Wow, I'm sure you wanted to know all that just to figure out why my eyes watered with such a simple and even mundane gift.

The great part is that you actually didn't need to know any of that to know that I was happy. You not knowing the story at the time did not take away any of my enjoyment. You don't have the same memories I do, but you do have the ability to make me smile. I've been missing Austin so dearly, but you made it clear that I do have friends here. There are again people in my life who will present me with office supplies and odd ideas. I know for certain that there are people who don't think I'm too weird for them.

The polka dotted duct tape is now on my bathroom mirror, and I honestly don't feel quite so alone.