Now that you know the simple version of what is happening, you might wonder why I am writing letters to you, especially since you spend so much time with other relatives on Skype. Since I do not know how much I will get to talk to you or how productive those talks will be, I have decided that I will tell you things as I think of them and make time to write them down. This way I am able to tell you things that I would have eventually told you through story, questions, or just by my actions if you were here with me. It will never be the same as telling you in person, but I won’t see you very much. I know from my time on the phone with Daniel that I am not very good at talking to people over the phone, especially when I am not in their lives directly. Since I never really know what you are doing or see how you feel or react to it, it makes it hard for me to think of things to say. Basically, the phone will never compare to the things that randomly come up when you are with a person. Why do you think I loved camping with you even when fishing was bad or weather was freezing cold? It is because we could talk about anything that popped into our minds. Over the phone you can only talk about the things that pop into your mind during that call, unless you made a note, and many of the most important thoughts in life do not get planned like that. If you want an example, think of how excited you get to see Grandma, Grandpa, and Auntie in Poland. You see them and talk to them all the time on Skype, but nothing beats the real thing.

I think that you know that I love stories. I LOVE stories. In my book, stories are what life is. If you are not making new stories, or the stories you are making are boring as hell, then you are not living… you are just not dead yet. When you die as a person, those stories of your life live on through others. Whether you believe in an afterlife of some sort or not, your stories are your immortality on the Earth. As long as your stories are alive, then so are you. Stories change how people look at the world and they can change how they interact with it. You love reading, and that means you love stories. I hope you love mine. You are going to get them anyway. Consider it my Right as Fazia!

I had a teacher once who was so much more than a teacher. In fact, he wasn’t even a “real” teacher. Don’t get me started on silly regulated industries like teaching; we will save that until you are older. Anyway, my high school (Pocatello High School) wanted Japanese language classes. They found a man who could teach it, but he was not a teacher. Long story short, he taught the Japanese classes that I took and we became friends. I will talk about him later I am sure. He was a massive impact on my life and still impacts it today. His name was Brad Smith. He died of cancer. I was in the Army in Hawaii and had almost no money so I did not go to his funeral and hate myself every day because of it. He was important enough that I should have done it no matter what. Many of the things I do today are because of things he told me in conversation, taught me in class, or I learned by observing how he acted towards and treated others, and through seeing his passion and follow-through on the things he felt important. He died in 2002 (maybe 2003), but he is actually still here (even today) giving me advice, support, and helping me be a better person. It is 2020 and I know that he will live as long as I am alive, and anyone who learns from me will learn from him. This is immortality. If you believe in another afterlife that is okay, but no one today can prove the other ones. This is real and you can see its effect on the world. You may not know the effect you will have in your life, but it can be guessed at by the examples that have come before you, how many people you have touched, how many things you have done, and whether those things were good or bad.

To make a long story longer, I want to be able to tell you things I wish I could have in person. And I want you to be able to ask me questions. You can write letters back, ask me on the phone, or in person when we are able. You should be forever searching, learning, and doing. This gives the world (and you) stories and you can change more lives than you know. Like Brad Smith, even the Internet hardly remembers him, but the lives he changed are stronger than that and continue to influence the world. I want to influence you. Not all my stories will be useful, but who knows? Maybe you can even learn from my stupidity. I have plenty of that to go around.

I love you,
Fazia