Dearest Téa,

My love for you across the miles has not waned.
My memory and hope of life together have not faded.
My heart longs, still, to see you and to speak with you.
My mind is drawn out in constant anxiety for you.
My voice and thoughts are underused when not engaged in prayer for you.

But for your absence and the absence of our children here
My time here would be perfectly pleasant.
Even as it is, I wish that I could live a life aiding and comforting you
And still maintain a presence here
or otherwise engaged in the future pursuits of this career.

Perhaps it's best that I'm not so endowed.
Perhaps it makes more precious and dear the moments we can share.
Certainly I lack the wisdom it seems to spend such finite minutes
And efforts as I am currently blessed with and must learn to invest
My time and means in endeavors that bless us all.

If I were blessed to not need to labor for our family,
I don't know how blessed our family or I would be.
Surely, I would not desire to squander all my time on idle things
But wisdom beyond our own holds our lot in other riches
Of truth and family to nourish and prosper before our time of ease.

How I long to be there if I could, and will in any way I can
While we both look forward to a time when we can bolster one another
Morning and night, and not forsake or neglect one another
Until such a time should come when our needs are far fewer
And we can be in many places at once--let us go together.

When our friendship was first beginning, my writings tended to be full of negative emotion and typical teenage drama. Richard encouraged me to try to write about the beautiful, uplifting and encouraging. He’s still pushing me to not just see the light but to write it down. It’s much easier to write pessimistically; I don’t have to worry about sounding sappy or trite. Using the tried and blue method, I can simply reach out and touch that bad day in everyone. Accentuating the positive is hard enough without worrying that I’m not punctuating it properly either! I’m still trying to find my voice, and they say the best way to do that is to keep on speaking. Er, writing. Until next time, Téa