To a Friend

Friendships are chosen family—and like family, they can be complicated. The friend who drifted away. The one who hurt you and doesn't know it. The one you hurt and never apologized to. The friend you lost to time, distance, circumstance, or something you still don't fully understand.

Some messages to friends are about the ones who are still in your life but don't hear everything. The worry you have for them that you can't express without overstepping. The gratitude you feel but never say because it would be awkward. The boundary you need to set but don't know how.

Others are about the friendships that ended—or never quite started. The person you thought would be in your life forever. The falling out that still doesn't make sense. The reconciliation you want but don't know how to begin. Here, you can write to friends past and present, saying the things that friendship's unwritten rules won't let you speak aloud.