Incendiary Advice

Cleveland Craigslist is a catch all of the mundane, strange, and fascinating. My favorite spots are the "rants and raves" and the "missed connections" sections. They allow for anonymous posting by angry or ecstatic denizens and the lovelorn, respectively.

What I found this morning brightened my whole day. Here it is:

Seeking You
Reply to: pers-140650850@craigslist.org
Date: 2006-03-10, 6:56AM CST


I wish you were going to be with me this weekend. It would be so much better with you along. Why did you have to do this to us? We are going to end up together. You know this is true. Why have all this pain in between? You are reading this for a reason. Fix it. Fix us. Stop this craziness already.

I love you.

I miss you.

I can't stand not having you in my life.

You can't expect me to wait forever.

Besides squeezing my inner Charmin (romantic that I am) this message is delightful in its universality. Obviously, the person feels close enough to the other person to forego all those crazy details like who it's being sent to, and some hint as to how they'll know who wrote it.

Instead, anyone can now claim it for their very own.

Sure, it rained all day and Mondays at work suck...but now you know that someone loves you! And they miss you! And they know, deep down inside they know, you two will end up together.

Just think: someone, somewhere, can't stand your absence. Maybe they haven't found the words yet to tell you directly. Maybe they think of you all the time, but haven't told a soul. You two have music that reminds you of each other, and seasons of memories - or maybe just one little first date bowling, before it all went awry. Nevertheless, the clock is ticking.

It could be written by a guy or a girl. Who knows. It could be someone old to someone young, or vice-versa. It could be the result of a two week relationship or one that's spanned 20 years. They may have broken up yesterday, or decades ago.

But you are reading it, and the message is clearly being sent to you, right then and right there. So naturally it (hopefully) makes you think of someone specific, and wish they were writing that to you.

I spent all day today with a bounce in my step and a smile on my lips after reading this note. Isn't that a great way to go through a Monday?

It's the perfect all purpose love letter being sent out across the universe, I think.