Write a letter to anyone about anything. Say what you have always wanted to say but have been afraid
Absolutely anyone about absolutely anything?
I guess I'd write a letter to ..my father .. Kara ..myself. To the man I was before the Cylons came and the world as I knew it was ripped away in front of my eyes so here goes.
The Letter
Hey Lee,
I suppose you're looking at this and wondering who this is from and believe it or not, it's from you ...only a future version, a man that's seen what's to come and knows you're in need of guidance. Trust me when I say this, life isn't always going to be the same and you won't always have what you have now.
You're going to be burning a lot of bridges, a lot of it out of pain and hurt but you'll need those bridges to survive what's coming. I learnt the hard way, I don't want you to have to find out that way. If anything, I want you to have a second chance that I didn't get until ..everything was over.
Life is going to start being difficult when you're a kid, your parents are going to fight and it's going to be painful to watch and to hear. You're going to want to take sides, going to want to look after your mother but try to keep an open mind. There are two sides to every story. It'll be hard to do because it won't appear like your father cares about you or the family but remember that he keeps coming back and he was the one who picked you up when you first fell off your bike. He may not be as expressive as a lot of fathers out there but he does love you.
I sound corny, I realise this but you'll understand why in a couple years.
Relationships break down, it's inevitable ..try not to hold your father personally responsible, it's as much your mother's fault as it is his. Zak will be too young to understand all of it, you're going to be a model big brother. You're going to protect him through whatever comes but eventually, you won't be able to protect him from everything. He'll want to be a pilot, not because it's his dream but because you're one and your father before you was one. He wants to follow in the family line and trust me, the pair of you will fight like cat and dog about his decision.
It's not that you don't trust or have faith in your brother, it's because you're afraid for him, you're afraid of losing him. You know how hard it is to fly a Viper, you understand how much strength it takes to get the damned bird to do as you want it to do. You might have the call sign of Apollo but you've crashed and burned enough times to know just how hard it is to be a Pilot. You might have been born to be in a cockpit but it didn't happen overnight, it took you a long time to earn your rank and you just don't want your little brother to fall like you did over and over again. Just because people don't see doesn't mean it hurts any less than it does.
A woman's going to come into Zak's life, she's going to be ..brash, impulsive and utterly frustrating. She'll have this devil-may-care kind of attitude and she'll be known as Kara but better known as Starbuck. Zak is going to fall head over heels and whether you want to or not, you can't help but like her. She's good for your brother, makes him feel good and eventually she'll have a ring on her finger and Zak's going to be like a kid before Christmas.
Now, this is the important part ..whatever happens, do not fall for her. Just don't, your life will be a lot easier if you can manage to stop yourself.
She's going to do something dumb, something you won't know about until two years too late when you've lashed out at the man you think responsible for what happens to Zak. Zak's going to die, you won't be able to stop it but Lords knows it's going to hurt like hell. You won't be able to see past it for a while and when you do, you'll be looking to blame someone ..anyone for Zak's death.
It's mostly your own guilt for not keeping him safe driving you on and in amongst the pain, you'll pull away from both your father and Kara. You won't see them for years and you think you're okay with it but truth be told, you're not. It's a shame that it'll take the end of the worlds to bring you and your father back together, that it will take nearly losing him for you to understand just how much he means to you.
Just don't waste a lot of your time with anger, be sure to take advantage of having time with your father before life fraks up and things become complicated. Also? The assignment to the Galactica decommissioning ceremony is the best assignment you will have ever gotten, don't bitch ..just go and be happy that you're alive when you could be dead.
There's a hell of a lot more to say but I don't want to give everything away. Life is about surprises be them good or bad, I don't want to take away the suspense and quite possibly take away the appeal of living day to day. Stay true to who you are, support the President and be sure to let your father know how you feel about him and if you can, keep Kara close and be her friend.
And if the days seem bleak and the nights too long, remember that ..you're fighting for something worthwhile.
From,
A man who has seen enough to know better
Muse : Lt. Lee 'Apollo' Adama
Fandom : Battlestar Galactica (New TV Series)
Word Count : 979
I guess I'd write a letter to ..my father .. Kara ..myself. To the man I was before the Cylons came and the world as I knew it was ripped away in front of my eyes so here goes.
The Letter
Hey Lee,
I suppose you're looking at this and wondering who this is from and believe it or not, it's from you ...only a future version, a man that's seen what's to come and knows you're in need of guidance. Trust me when I say this, life isn't always going to be the same and you won't always have what you have now.
You're going to be burning a lot of bridges, a lot of it out of pain and hurt but you'll need those bridges to survive what's coming. I learnt the hard way, I don't want you to have to find out that way. If anything, I want you to have a second chance that I didn't get until ..everything was over.
Life is going to start being difficult when you're a kid, your parents are going to fight and it's going to be painful to watch and to hear. You're going to want to take sides, going to want to look after your mother but try to keep an open mind. There are two sides to every story. It'll be hard to do because it won't appear like your father cares about you or the family but remember that he keeps coming back and he was the one who picked you up when you first fell off your bike. He may not be as expressive as a lot of fathers out there but he does love you.
I sound corny, I realise this but you'll understand why in a couple years.
Relationships break down, it's inevitable ..try not to hold your father personally responsible, it's as much your mother's fault as it is his. Zak will be too young to understand all of it, you're going to be a model big brother. You're going to protect him through whatever comes but eventually, you won't be able to protect him from everything. He'll want to be a pilot, not because it's his dream but because you're one and your father before you was one. He wants to follow in the family line and trust me, the pair of you will fight like cat and dog about his decision.
It's not that you don't trust or have faith in your brother, it's because you're afraid for him, you're afraid of losing him. You know how hard it is to fly a Viper, you understand how much strength it takes to get the damned bird to do as you want it to do. You might have the call sign of Apollo but you've crashed and burned enough times to know just how hard it is to be a Pilot. You might have been born to be in a cockpit but it didn't happen overnight, it took you a long time to earn your rank and you just don't want your little brother to fall like you did over and over again. Just because people don't see doesn't mean it hurts any less than it does.
A woman's going to come into Zak's life, she's going to be ..brash, impulsive and utterly frustrating. She'll have this devil-may-care kind of attitude and she'll be known as Kara but better known as Starbuck. Zak is going to fall head over heels and whether you want to or not, you can't help but like her. She's good for your brother, makes him feel good and eventually she'll have a ring on her finger and Zak's going to be like a kid before Christmas.
Now, this is the important part ..whatever happens, do not fall for her. Just don't, your life will be a lot easier if you can manage to stop yourself.
She's going to do something dumb, something you won't know about until two years too late when you've lashed out at the man you think responsible for what happens to Zak. Zak's going to die, you won't be able to stop it but Lords knows it's going to hurt like hell. You won't be able to see past it for a while and when you do, you'll be looking to blame someone ..anyone for Zak's death.
It's mostly your own guilt for not keeping him safe driving you on and in amongst the pain, you'll pull away from both your father and Kara. You won't see them for years and you think you're okay with it but truth be told, you're not. It's a shame that it'll take the end of the worlds to bring you and your father back together, that it will take nearly losing him for you to understand just how much he means to you.
Just don't waste a lot of your time with anger, be sure to take advantage of having time with your father before life fraks up and things become complicated. Also? The assignment to the Galactica decommissioning ceremony is the best assignment you will have ever gotten, don't bitch ..just go and be happy that you're alive when you could be dead.
There's a hell of a lot more to say but I don't want to give everything away. Life is about surprises be them good or bad, I don't want to take away the suspense and quite possibly take away the appeal of living day to day. Stay true to who you are, support the President and be sure to let your father know how you feel about him and if you can, keep Kara close and be her friend.
And if the days seem bleak and the nights too long, remember that ..you're fighting for something worthwhile.
From,
A man who has seen enough to know better
Muse : Lt. Lee 'Apollo' Adama
Fandom : Battlestar Galactica (New TV Series)
Word Count : 979