Note: this is an answer to a prompt given by the writer, James Prescott. The prompt goes: Write a letter from your older self to your younger self.

 

This is the first time I am doing this, and I don’t know if I’m doing it right, but I’ll try anyway.

Dear you

I am in a nice place now. Actually, it’s a fantastic place.

Before I arrived, I had to wait for a long time. I was tired, half-asleep, half-hopeful, half-afraid of walking on the dark road, but I didn’t give up.

I made it to a door. I asked myself: “Have I walked in the right direction? Is this the right door?” I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. The door was opened immediately. A strong light met my eyes. I came into the arms of a light brighter and warmer than the sun.

A tall strong man met me. “Come inside,” he said, “don’t be afraid.”

Now I lie in the soft green pastures, listening to the gentle tones of the still waters.

Grandmother tells me to say hello. We have just had dinner. We sang the prayer “All good gifts around us”. Do you remember this song?

All good gifts around us
are sent from heaven above;
then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord
for all his love.

 (All good gifts around us by Jane M. Campbell)

 

I don’t know what more to tell you…Do you know that you are loved?

 From me

 

I am about to seal the envelope and give it to Gabriel when he looks at me and coughs. Then I remember. I open the envelope and add:

Do you know that you are loved? John 3:16

 From me

 

I watch Gabriel fly away with the letter to my heart in 2014. I hope I will remember just a few words of the letter when I wake up.