Dear Emmie Blue

by Lia Louis

Because everything happens for a reason, doesn’t it? Even if at first it all seems hopeless, or wrong, or bloody disastrous.

Maybe home isn’t a place. It’s a feeling. Of being looked after and understood. Of being loved.

“The dream, surely,” I said. “Someone loving you despite and because of all the flaws and shit in your life.”

Laughter is universal. To understand laughter, you do not need to be multilingual.

What is it about someone asking if you’re okay? Even if you think you’re holding it together, all it takes is someone asking if you’re all right to completely melt away your resolve and bring that lump bobbing straight into your throat.

“You know what I think, Emmie?” he says. “I think you put too much onus on this man. You don’t give yourself enough credit. Who you are on your own.”

“And that’s what a lot of it is. How it appears. They’re probably just as lost as everyone else is behind closed doors.”

“Makes you feel alive, I think. A reminder that the world is bigger than you. That’s why I like storms especially.”

“Do you know why I like storms?” says Louise as my fingers reach for the switch. “They’re a little reminder that we’re not at all in charge, but Mother Nature is. And while the world might not look exactly how we’d prefer it to, it is enough, if we just stop and look. The whole sky lit up. The smell of the rain. Safe inside. What more could you need?”