Letter #26

Sometimes it’s time to leave-
to lace up your shoes and turn your back.
And sometimes it’s time to stay-
to fight the fear of getting attached
and build a home inside a person.

It’s hard to figure out which is right.
I haven’t figured it out myself yet.

But I will tell you this-
Love is choosing to share your light again and again,
no matter how many times it hurts you.
Love is staying open and grateful for the people in your life,
no matter how long they stay.

So I can’t tell you whether to leave or stay,
but I can tell you it’s okay either way.
It’s going to be okay.

Be open. Be grateful. Be fearless.
And I promise you,
it will all fall into place.

If you’re with the right person, you’ll know.
And if you don’t know,
then maybe that’s your answer.

M

Letter #25

You walk into the room
like shattered glass.

And I’m here for you.

Because I know what it’s like
to crack open,
a body becoming tectonic plate
becoming molten earth
becoming ash,
lungs, skin, world covered.
I know what it’s like to hurt that much.

And I want to tell you it will be okay.

This world is full of people
who will love your broken pieces back together.
And you can find healing
in unexpected places,
like strangers sending love through a letter.

You are resilient enough to get through anything,
including this.

You’re going to be okay.

In fact, you’re going to be more than okay;
you’re going to be whole again.

 M

Letter #24 – Left at Arroyo Coffee in Santa Fe, NM

You are everything.
You understand that, right?
You have an entire universe of stars inside your bones.
Constellations of fire died billions of years ago to be reborn, here and now, in your skin.

And you tell me you don’t believe in miracles?

Well, I do.
And I believe in you.
I believe it’s not too late, never too late.
You really can change this world with your two hands.

You have a place here,
and it’s bigger + wider than you ever thought possible.
Your life matters.
I mean really matters.
You’re a piece of this shimmering, dancing universe.
We need you.
We all need you.
I’ve never believed in anything more.

M

Letter #23 – Left at The Drury Plaza Hotel in Santa Fe, NM

Before I wrote you this,
this was a blank page.

It was perfect and infinite-
it could have said anything.

That’s the magic of creativity;
it allows you to shape the world.

What do you want to see more of in the world?

Stories of hope? You have to write them.
Acceptance? You have to speak it.
Beauty? You must paint it.
Love letters? You must send them.

You create your world, our world.
It can be anything.

Now go.

M

Letter #22 – Left at Caffe Sole

This letter starts with you leaving,
traveling in reverse
back to the home you made before this one,
back to the life you lived before now.
You grow younger and younger,
your heart wider and wider.
Your life folds back into itself
like spooling yarn.
And the whole world with its infinite possibilities are in front of you.
And every choice you’ve ever made can be remade:
rewound, edited, played again.

What would you change in this moment?
What different life, ghost life,
plays out like a movie when you close your eyes?

Sometimes it makes me so sad
that we can’t travel in reverse.
Our lives are a spinning top,
moving faster and faster
with blind velocity
until eventually we
stop.

M

 

Letter #21 – Left at Flatiron Coffee

“This is your year of letting go,
of understanding loss,
grace.”

It is the nature of grace to fill empty spaces,
so let yourself be filled.

This is your time.
Hope like a universe.
Hope like an anchor.

Your time to find beauty,
everywhere,
everywhere.

M

Letter #20 – Left at Figure Yoga

Forgiveness doesn’t sit in your hands
like a glowing perfect light.

Forgiveness is more like clay;
it’s messy,
never finished,
never over.

You must constantly shape it again and again.

The dirt cakes under your fingernails
and your palms stain with earth.

It is work. But it is worth it.

You shape your life with your own two hands.
You get to choose whether you make it beautiful.

Keep shaping. Keep working.
And let forgiveness come.

M

Letter #19 – Left in the law school library

You are here.
You made it to this moment, this day
because you are strong.

Strong like fire.
Strong like steel.

And I love you like that,
with all your shattered pieces
soldered together.
I’ve never seen anything
so beautiful.

M

Letter #18 – Left hidden in the law school library

“The sun is perfect and you woke up this morning.

You have enough language in your mouth to be understood.

You have a name and someone wants to call it.

Five fingers on your hand and someone wants to hold it.

If we start there, every beautiful thing that has or ever will exist is possible.

If we start there, everything for a moment is right in the world.”

Warsan Shire

It’s true. All of it.

M

Letter #17 – Left in a booth at Panera

Don’t panic.

Things are bad, I know.
The earth is melting,
the nuclear threat is real,
and Donald Trump is running for president.

But don’t panic.

Because we can be the generation of peacemakers and restorers.

We are our own saviors.
We are tiny mirrors of light.
We are young still
and fearless.

And for those reasons, my dear,
I’m betting on us.

M

Letter #16 – Left in a makeup store

You are the kind of beautiful
that cracks open the sky
like thunder.

You are the kind of pretty
that moves in compassion
and grace.

And there is no mistaking
how precious and rare that is to find.

You deserve someone who sees your every flaw
and would never love you any less.
You deserve someone who lights you up on the inside.
Someone who makes you more whole and more real
and more vulnerable in the best way possible.
Someone who chooses you every single day.

You deserve that much.
You deserve it all.
I don’t know your life or situation,
but if all you’re getting is disappointment
laying thick on your tongue,
then let it go, my love.
You were born to let it go.

Let it go,
and trust me, sweet girl,
you will be even more beautiful for it.

 M

Letter #15 – Left in Cultiva in Lincoln, Nebraska

I know we are strangers,
But I wrote this letter hoping it would find the right person.
I hope it finds you right when you need it:

Sometimes we hold on
when we need to let go.

We white-knuckle grip the very thing
that has been hurting us the most-
the very thing that would bring peace
if we just unclenched.

What is it for you?
A person? A vice?
A way of looking at the world?
What is it for you?

For me, it’s a person
in a place I’m never going home to.
But I need to let go.

And I hope you let go.
I hope you turn open palms up
to find more blessings
than you ever thought you could hold.

You are incredible and loved
And never ever alone.

M

Letter #14 – Left on my neighbor’s front door

Nothing about you is an accident.

Nothing about you is ever going to be an accident.

Not the family you have.
Not the things you love.
Not the experiences that hurt you.
Not the girl who moves in next door.
Not the fact that you’re standing here right now, reading this letter.

Everything is a path to drive you towards your purpose.
Everything is a road.

You’re meant to help other people.
And meanwhile, the God of the universe is helping you.

I hope you take everything you have
and every beat of love in your heart
and give it to the world as your gift.

Because you’re not an accident.
You’re meant to be here.

So keep walking your path, Marcus.
I know it’s going to be a good one.

  M

Letter #13 – Left at Ink

I’m in the middle of writing a creative essay for A Room of Her Own Foundation and for the LA Times. It’s about beauty. I hope it’s good when it’s finally finished. Today it inspired me to write this letter:

I have something to say to you.
Yes, you.

Beauty is just the way the light reflects off your skin.
Nothing more.

It doesn’t make you whole.
It doesn’t make you loved.
And it certainly doesn’t make you special.

But waking up every day and choosing to be a good person …
That is really something.

That is a choice. And a damn good choice at that.

Keep on choosing it, my dear.
Keep on spreading your smile.
Because it matters.
Because no matter how striking you are on the outside,
your smile will always be the most beautiful thing about you.

M

Letter #12 – Left at Green Eye Motors in Boulder

I know we don’t know each other.
I know we’ve never met.
But I need to tell you something:

There is love inside your heart deeper than the Pacific.
It is wild. It is pure.
And it is perfect.
Do you understand that?
Everything you are searching for is already inside of you –
right there, buried deep in your chest.

You don’t need more followers on Instagram.
You don’t need nicer clothes or better hair.
You don’t need flattering words from other people.
You don’t need empty attention, empty admiration.

All you need is to rest one hand on your heart,
to feel it beat,
and understand how incredibly amazing you are.

You are.

M