dear g,

i don't know where to start today. through my sleepiness, i feel my heart swell, warming me with thoughts of you.

i remember friday, boarding BART on my way into a conversation i didn't want to have, falling back into your words like a safety net, feeling so much calmer than i'd been just moments before. i remember something changing in that moment, seeing you in a whole different way and thinking to myself, "i could fall for a girl like that."

i think it made me realize that beyond all the fun i have with you, how amazing sex is with you, that you're someone i could sit and talk with forever, there is another layer of feelings for you: respect, trust, appreciation. i appreciate you so much. from the sweet things that never cease to pour from your lips to the way you make me giggle and smile to the times i can really lean on you and you look out for me--we are building a foundation. we are building a friendship that has all the potential to take us to places we can't yet imagine. it's amazing to me still how little i feel impatient to force things into place, how much i trust that our relationship will evolve in just the right way and that i can throw away my map and my compass, have faith in the road and know i will not get lost.

i can't think how many times in my life i've been able to truly live in each moment the way i do with you, feel the gratitude for the exact space and time that i'm in. and wherever it is, gina: a swimming pool in the heat of a san joaquin summer, a topless jeep under a blanket of stars, across a pool table gazing into your eyes, cross legged on your flannel sheets, it's so much better because you're there.

xo,

WD

August 20, 2001