Chapter
Mar. 9, 1998
Dear Maria,
I’m glad you had a great time at your vacation and yes I remember the fish tank. You never knew this, but I named your favorite fish after you. It was that rainbow fish that looked almost iridescent. Maria the rainbow fish. Here’s some irony for you. Maria died three days before the night you gave me your letter. I should have taken it as some sort of sign. If only I believed in that sort of thing.
Ricky’s attempt at setting me up was a complete fail. Turns out the girl, her name is Jasmine, was more into Big C than me. I mean, it’s fine obviously. They are a couple now and my friend is really happy. Which is great.
And that leads me to the next development in my life. I know you told me to stay away from the girl upstairs. Well, turns out that Cara isn’t that bad. She’s kinda cleaned up her image and stopped being so forward with me. Even going as far to apologize for being so in my face before, which I felt took a lot of bravery on her part. Eventually, we started talking when we would see each other in the lobby and I realized she was pretty cool. She is kind and compassionate. She takes care of her sick mom and is the greatest aunt to her niece. She’s loyal toward those she cares about. So on a whim one day, I asked her out. We’ve been dating now for the last two months. She’s kinda great. Actually, her sense of humor is what I like the best about her. This is why my letter has taken so long. Between working and spending time with Cara, I’ve been busy.
And there’s something else. After your last letter, you got me thinking. You’re right, I have been interested in psychology for as long as I can remember. I read your letter and my wheels started to turn so I checked out what would be involved. Well, since I already have my associates, I would only need two years to get my bachelor’s followed by two years for my masters. The hard part is after. I would need to apply for a PhD or PsyD program which is roughly five years. I guess I need to ask myself, am I ready to commit to nine years of schooling? It’s a lot of food for thought.
I’m going to have to cut this one short. I have to get Cara for date night.
Sincerely, Sam