Say Cheese

For my 21st, I wrote a letter to all of my guests, and I wrote about fifty letters in total (never doing that again- that was a nightmare to get them all written, printed, and enveloped). Though they were all written in what might be described as Elon Musk's fever dream, there was one I did particularly like, and still do to this day. Here it is:

Dear [REDACTED]

I'm really happy to write this letter because it's the last letter that I actually have to write, and I'm coming in on schedule.

I hope you have fun at my 21^st. Unlike Steph, I couldn't get away with clubbing as it is my 21^st and remains a little more personal, though I'm sure the many photos of what goes on tonight will betray our dignity (I'm wondering whether or not it was a mistake to invest so heavily in alcohol). Photos are weird to me. They remind us of what we looked like, as if that will remind us about who we were. The past is another country, and to look upon photos is looking into the past and trying to find meaning that is the cultural divide of the past and the present.

At the same time, I really like photographs in what might be considered the stupidest case of cognitive dissonance ever recorded. We change throughout our lives, whether we want to or not. Every time you take a photo, in the instant of the camera lens shuttering, there is a moment being captured where you are looking at the oldest someone has ever been and the youngest they will ever be again. We're all different people throughout our lives, and when scrolling through albums and looking at who we once were; maybe it's best to remember how these predecessors of ourselves happened to be, in any form they might have taken whether it's a new outfit that has since grown old or a fresh haircut which has been long since grown out. We should be immensely grateful to our younger selves who happily sacrificed themselves so that we might live.

Say Cheese.

From Ruby