Dear Los Angeles,

We became reacquainted almost exactly a year ago and in that year I have become convinced that we should be together. Intimately. For a very long time. It’s not the first time I considered living with you but its the first time it feels really right. It’s the first time I can visual myself living in a city on the other side of the country from the city where I was born and raised. It’s too simple to say that it’s because of him, a man who happens to be friends with some friends of mine who wooed me with witty tweets, then letters, then phone calls and then with his presence. Of course he plays a huge part. He really has changed my life and my vision for the future but so have you.
I never thought I could live in a city besides New York unless that city were in another country. It’s why I fled to Chile for my second year of college, my last year. But you – when I went to you again last Spring, I saw parts of you I didn’t think existed – or rather I saw parts of you that I saw stereotyped in films and had them revealed to me in a way that reflected back so much of my own life and experiences.

Los Angeles, since last May I have returned to you three times and every time I have fallen more in love you. Even with the distance between us it has been easy for me to discover things about you. My now partner, my friends have helped in that process plus I’m an explorer. I don’t mind hopping on the Metro bus or your excuse for for a subway system (hey New York City will always be my first love). But how will you learn about me? How will you, can you learn to love me and accept me? There is no map, no text, only stories I carry on my skin and beneath it. With every step I leave some of it behind true, but I am more than the sum of my parts. My history with you began before last May. Before we move on I should share that history with you so we both know what we are getting into, so that we can both build a healthy relationship with each other. I’m committed to that.

Love,

Mala