To A Silly But Trustworthy Friend

What can I say, friend, in the sheer appreciation of how persistent your efforts were in tracking me down during my short stay in Minneapolis. I hardly feel that I’ve earned that from you. You, the one who so generously let me crash in your apartment two to four times a week for months at a time.

You’re simply too good to me, my friend.

When I think of you, not just as my friend but a bit more removed, as if I’m viewing your life as some distant observer, I find someone I admire so very much. It takes quite the soul to so consistently excel in their ambitions while maintaining the humor and humility that you maintain. You have a pure heart and I’m astonished by it in every encounter. You maintain a caliber of human being that would intimidate most people, if they were told they’d soon be held to the standard you hold yourself to.

My one true hope for you is that you are satisfied in your achievements, that the love you offer to others is returned to you rightfully, that your labor be rewarded and that your humor remains joyful.

In a world full of negativity and cynicism, you produce joy and the all - too -underrated quality of silliness and modesty in abundance.

Bless your sweet heart.

I only hope I can begin to repay the debt I owe you from all the years of kindness and generosity that you’ve given me.

I love you, my friend, not for what I have received from you, but for being who you are and for taking so much of the morbidity out of the world.

Until next time,

Roman

P.S. There’s a certain number of Elliot Smith songs that remind me of you.