“I’ll write to you. A super-long letter, like in an old-fashioned novel”
― Haruki Murakami
Gmail saves everything. Thank you, Gmail.
So, whenever I start to give in to the itch and the urge to miss my ex-boyfriend, I can just type his name in the Gmail search bar and see just exactly how our relationship unfolded. Threads of “I want to break up with you” emails will resurface — and to put a cherry on top of disaster, a play-by-play of our final words thanks to saved Gchat conversations. Woohoo!
Gmail also kindly saves our incomplete thoughts in its lovely draft folder. Like these types of emails, we throw up so quickly and forget to (or, never have the courage to) send.
1. To-Do Lists
- What to pick up at your next trip to CVS
- The things you need to complete before you can waste away the rest of your Sunday afternoon watching House of Cards on Netflix
2. Heat of the moment responses to emails that make you rest your head in your palms in utter disgust.
3. Don’t forgets
- Must call parents this week
- RSVP to Heather’s birthday trip to Atlantic City
- Use the Old Navy coupon before it expires on Tuesday
4. A gobbledygook mess of mismatched letters, words, unpunctuated sentences from a middle of the night thought, or from typing while trying to do something else like: walking, brushing your teeth, peeing, or giving someone a smooch.
5. Email addresses with no names attached to them + a chaotic reminder for you to get on the ball and email them already.
6. Nothing. The body of the email is still blank and your static signature laughs back at you.
7. Links to websites (like The Things I Learned From) that you’d like to revisit. But probably will forget to until 137 days later when you’re sifting through your draft folder, trying to reduce the clutter.
8. Really awesome quotes.
9. Restaurants and bars and sights that you’d like to see someday, sometime, somewhere.
10. Jobs you’re meaning to apply to but haven’t because the thought of writing another cover letter releases those edgy Goosebumps all over your unemployed bod.
11. The unraveling of your procrastinated thoughts. Your travel plans, wild dreams, most intimate ideas that you’d pursue if you could. If you had the time, the money, the resources. If only you weren’t so afraid.
12. The faint beginning of a love letter to someone you hardly know.
