Latest / The Letterbox Podcast / Dear Ali | A Nostalgic Letter About Teenage Freedom

Transcript

Dear Ali | A Nostalgic Letter About Teenage Freedom · The Letterbox Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome back to the Letter Books podcast.
• 0:03
  I'm Lucy, and this is the place where real people share the real
• 0:06
  letters that they've written about the people, places, or in
• 0:11
  today's case, memories that mean something to them.
• 0:17
  The letter I'm about to read to you is from somebody who has
• 0:21
  asked just to be known as the peculiar poet.
• 0:26
  This person told me that they love writing, particularly when
• 0:31
  it captures nostalgia, emotion, and moment.
• 0:34
  They said they wanted to share this piece in particular because
• 0:37
  it holds on to a specific, fleeting kind of freedom that
• 0:41
  they feel like a lot of us are always trying to reach back to.
• 0:43
  And when I read it for the first time, I really understood what
• 0:48
  they meant. Just quickly.
• 0:54
  Before I read it to you, though, if you haven't already, press
• 0:57
  the follow button or subscribe wherever you are listening.
• 1:00
  It really would mean so much to me if you could do that.
• 1:04
  It sends these letters all around the world to people who
• 1:07
  might not have otherwise heard them, and it's the very best way
• 1:10
  that you can support the podcast and help it grow.
• 1:14
  But now it's time for the letter.
• 1:23
  Dear Ally, You asked me once if you could turn back the hands of
• 1:28
  time. Why would I go?
• 1:32
  What would I do? I thought about it, and if I
• 1:37
  could turn back the hands of time to when I was 17, I'd find
• 1:42
  my way back to that music festival we weren't supposed to
• 1:45
  be at. A few friends, no real plan,
• 1:48
  just slipping in and ending up in the woods like we had landed
• 1:52
  somewhere that didn't belong to the real world.
• 1:55
  It felt like another planet. The nights were the best part,
• 2:02
  so dark between the trees you could barely see where you were
• 2:06
  going except for flashes of neon.
• 2:09
  People glowing in pieces, covered in bracelets and light,
• 2:13
  and every so often whole figures drifted by, bodies outlined in
• 2:18
  glow sticks like walking constellations.
• 2:21
  Moving through the forest, you'd pass campsite after campsite,
• 2:26
  each one its own little universe.
• 2:29
  Music bleeding into music, laughter overlapping
• 2:33
  conversations, people dancing like nothing existed outside of
• 2:37
  that moment. It was never quiet, not really,
• 2:45
  and sure, maybe we weren't entirely sober, but that made
• 2:48
  the atmosphere around us so much better.
• 2:51
  Like everything was turned up just enough to feel infinite.
• 2:57
  I don't think I'd go back to change anything.
• 3:02
  I'd go back just to stand there again in the middle of it all,
• 3:07
  feeling completely untethered, like nothing was waiting for me
• 3:11
  and nowhere else I needed to be. Just that kind of freedom, the
• 3:19
  kind you don't realise is rare until it's already gone.
• 3:28
  I absolutely loved that letter. It was very poetic and I suppose
• 3:33
  by the writer's name it's not surprising.
• 3:35
  But it's just shown me once again why I love this podcast so
• 3:39
  much. Because there really are no
• 3:41
  rules to letter writing, and anybody can write a letter about
• 3:45
  anything. And as this one goes to show, it
• 3:50
  doesn't even have to be very long and in only a few words,
• 3:54
  you really can make people stop and think.
• 3:59
  And I really enjoyed that. Say thank you very, very much to
• 4:04
  our letter writer today. If you've listened to that and
• 4:08
  it's inspired you to write something, I really would love
• 4:11
  to hear from you. So don't forget you can send
• 4:13
  your own letter in the e-mail address is in the show
• 4:15
  description. I really would love to hear what
• 4:18
  you have to say because remember, as long as it is
• 4:21
  meaningful to you, it's meaningful to me.
• 4:24
  So once again, thank you so much for joining me today and
• 4:27
  listening in to the Letterbox forecast.
• 4:29
  Make sure that you are telling, make sure to press that follow
• 4:40
  button. And if you can think of somebody
• 4:41
  who might enjoy listening who doesn't know about the podcast
• 4:44
  already, I would really love that you to tell them about it.
• 4:49
  Until next time, sending you all a lot of love.