Lamita Mezeraany

Lamita,

Middle school. Do you remember who we were then?

I do. And the fact that you have loved me from that version of myself all the way to this one is something I will spend my whole life being grateful for. Because that is not a small distance. That is every version of me that ever existed. The uncertain one, the loud one, the one who was figuring everything out, the one who got it wrong, the one who slowly, slowly started getting it right. You were there for all of them. You called them all by the same name.

That is the deepest kind of love there is.

You are a light, Lamita. Not in the way people say it casually, as a compliment they hand out without thinking. I mean it as a fact about your nature. You carry something warm inside you that reaches the people around you without effort, without performance, simply because that is what you are made of. The universe put something rare in you and I think you don't always see it as clearly as the rest of us do.

I see it. I have always seen it.

And then there is Blackpink. There is the specific joy of having a person who shares your world completely, who understands why a song can mean everything, who you can scream alongside and feel completely understood. That is its own kind of intimacy. The kind built on pure, uncomplicated happiness. I treasure that too. I treasure every moment of it.

You are my longest friendship and my truest one.

Thank you for never leaving. Thank you for being light when things were dark. Thank you for Blackpink and everything in between.

I love you, Lamita. From middle school and forever.

Always,

Elia