Charlie walked to his mailbox and pulled open the door. He pulled out Target advertisements, the weekly bulletin his momâs church sent out to all its members, and some enveloped letters. Walking back into his house, he flipped through the mail. There were credit card notices, a Bath and Body Works coupon, and an envelope addressed to him, Charlie Wynn. He opened it and smiled when he saw the bubbly handwriting. He left the rest of the mail on the dining room table and walked upstairs to his room. Pulling out a piece of paper from the desk drawer, Charlie started writing. He started to fall in love with writing letters, like Emily had talked about in her second letter. When he was finished, he put it in an envelope and went back downstairs.
Charlie sat down at the dining table and started sorting the mail. Most of it was for his mom, but oddly, there was a second envelope addressed to him. He didnât recognize the address written on the far left corner. Charlie opened the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper. A plane ticket fell out.
My name is Kathryn Reid. I was Emily Shetlerâs best friend.
I know that you and Emily have been exchanging letters for the past several months, and I have no idea what the two of you wrote to each other, but I know you were important to her. A few days ago, Em passed away in a car accident. Her parents are arranging a funeral for her. Itâs taking place at the Crossroads Church of Denver on 9725 West 50th Avenue.
The plane ticket is for you. During winter break, I gave Em a ticket to Illinois so that she could visit Northwestern with me in the summer. The airline let me return it for credits, and I thought sheâd like it if you could be there. My number is 303-555-8172 if you have any questions.
I miss Emily, and I know you do too. She was extraordinary.
 Charlie put the letter down and let out a sharp breath. He covered his face with his hands and pushed his dark hair back. His mom wasnât home yet, so he picked up a marker and wrote on the whiteboard mounted on the refrigerator. Iâll be back in a week, love you, mom -Charles.
He went upstairs and gathered everything heâd need, his toothbrush, a towel, some shirts and a pair of jeans, and stuffed it messily into a blue duffel bag. Right before he was about to leave his bedroom, Charlie walked over to his desk and picked up the letter he had just written to Emily. He walked downstairs, slowly, each step down more difficult than the last and made his way out the door. On the bus ride to the airport, Charlie turned on his iPhone and tapped the music icon, putting it on shuffle. He looked down at the screen, Acoustic #3....I havenât heard this in awhile. Charlie looked out the window and closed his eyes, taking in the music, the sunlight, and the smell of cigarettes coming from the back of the bus.
Kathryn arrived at the church early in the morning to share one quiet moment with her best friend. When she opened the door, Kathryn saw Emilyâs picture next to a mahogany casket in the front of the small sanctuary. There were bouquets of sunflowers to the right and left of her smiling face. The room had long windows on the two walls adjacent to the stage and light flooded the sanctuary. Kathryn walked right up to the picture of Emily.
âIâm sorry, Em. I fell again. And this time, I dragged you down with me.â Kathryn tried to laugh, but the room stayed silent.
Kathryn heard the door open and turned her head to see the Shetlers. Mr. and Mrs. Shetler were walking hand in hand. When they saw her, the two rushed up to Kathryn.
âKathryn,â they embraced her tightly, and she could feel their tears running down her long, red hair.
A few minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to start, everyone took their seats in the long pews. The small sanctuary was almost full but still, it was silent. As Mr. Shetler stood to welcome everyone who had come, the doors opened again. Mr. Shetler looked up to see who had come in.
A tall boy stood in the doorway with two pieces of wrinkled paper in his left hand. He had tattoos running down both arms and wore a simple blue v-neck and a pair of black jeans. In his right hand, he held a single sunflower. Mr. Shetler was confused; he had never seen this boy at Colorado Prep or around his neighborhood. Everyone watched as the boy walked up the center aisle and placed the sunflower by Emilyâs picture.
âSo thatâs what you look like, Emily Shetler,â the boy said softly. He walked down from the stage and sat in one of the pews near Kathryn. Mr. Shetler walked up to Emilyâs picture and started talking about how special Emily was. He talked about how she had a way of connecting with people, not only through her spoken words, but with her heart and in the love she put in every letter she wrote. Taking a sunflower from one of the bouquets, he held it in his hands. He talked about how much Emily loved sunflowers because they were bright, and how she had always wanted to be that bright.
Mr. Shetler put the sunflower on the casket and took a seat next to Mrs. Shetler. Kathryn stood up and opened a piece of paper. Three words in, she started crying uncontrollably. All she could get out was, âI love you, Em.â Before she sat down, Kathryn looked at the boy.
âCharlie, right ?â He nodded.
Charlie stood up. âYeah, I got it.â
He took the papers with him and stood next to Emilyâs picture, in front of classmates, parents, friends, all people he never knew. He opened the envelopes and took out two pieces of paper. Sighing, Charlie pushed his hair back and started to speak.
âHey, so...my name is Charlie Wynn and I guess Emily was kind of my friend too. She wrote me these letters that were witty and smart and well, I guess Emily was a girl that was witty and smart. I didnât know her like you guys did, I never met her, I never saw her face,â Charlie paused, âuntil now.
She sent me her last letter about a week ago and after I read it, I immediately wrote a response. I couldnât wait to see what sheâd write in response. Even though the postal system is so freaking shitty, her responses always felt so quick and real and like...she was talking to me, face-to-face. Emily had a way with words. I mean, I love English and literature and whatever as much as the next person but even if she quoted Dr. Seuss, it wouldâve been great.
I brought the letter, so,â he opened a piece of paper, âI guess Iâll read it. She even drew fucking sunflowers.â Charlie took another deep breath.
âHappy Holidays to you, too, Mr. Charles Wynn !
I donât know if youâre aware of this, but you actually put words together so beautifully. Iâm sure youâve done a lot of fun and exciting things in your life, and if youâre ever in Colorado, call me up and weâll get some coffee and talk for hours.
I know what you mean about the future. It feels like itâs all coming at once, right ? My friend, Kathryn does that too. She canât wait for the future but sometimes she gets too excited. Interjection: Kathryn isnât just my friend, sheâs my best friend.â
Charlie paused and looked at Kathryn, âShe loved you too.â Kathryn smiled through her tears; Emily always knew how to make her smile through the hardest moments. Charlie continued reading.
âWhenever Kathryn feels especially sad and like thereâs no way out, I tell her that I love her. Even though sheâs going so far to Northwestern in the fall, Iâm excited for her. Iâm excited because sheâs going somewhere new. And everyday, sheâll breathe in new air and hear new sounds and feel new things. I havenât told her yet but Iâll miss her like crazy and I know sheâll miss me a lot too. But the day before she leaves, Iâm going to tell her to live in her now, her everyday because all of her everydays will make up her life. And in the end, when sheâs lived through all that life has given her, weâll meet up and weâll laugh and cry about everything thatâs happened to us. Itâll be just us, Em and Kat against the world.
So thatâs what I say to you too. No one knows where theyâre going. But when youâre at UCLA in the fall, I want you to soak it all in every single day. Learn from people around you and teach people around you and be ohkay. No, be better than ohkay. And then one day, youâll look back and youâll see that youâve gone somewhere.
This oneâs a little different. âSometimes itâs the same moments that take your breath away that breathe purpose and love back into your life.â
 "The first time she wrote me, she signed as âsomeone elseâ and then she became âEmily Shetlerâ and then âEmilyâ and finally just âEmâ. It was a long plane ride over here and I thought about a lot of things. I thought about Emily and how fucked up it is that she ended as just Em. Thereâs no more becoming anything for her.
In one of her letters, she wrote that she was waiting for âextraordinary things to happen to ordinary peopleâ.â
Charlie motioned air quotes with his free hand and laughed to himself.
âEmily Shelter, she said that. I canât say that I loved her because I didnât really know her, but I know that she loved her family and her friends and everyone who showed up today. And I know she loved complete strangers. She wasnât afraid of death, Emily said death was the ordinary.
So I guess for Emily, the ordinary happened to an extraordinary person. She wasnât ordinary, not at all. She was extra-fucking-ordinary. She never even spoke two words to me and she changed my life. And I know sheâd want all of you to miss her today, maybe tomorrow, but not for the rest of your lives. Sheâd say something like, âdonât feel the tiniest bit of sadness because the tiniest bit of sadness isnât tiny at allâ. Emily would pick you up and push you forward.
About that quote she included, âsometimes itâs the same moments that take your breath away that breathe purpose and love back into your life.â I had to google it,â Charlie smiled and looked over at the picture of Emily. âSorry, Emily.â
âSteve Maraboli said it. And Emily was definitely the better psychic between the two of us. She knew death was going to take her one day, and with her, itâd take so much from our lives. But Emily knew itâd give us so much too. I canât say I loved her, but I sure do miss her.â
the end thank you for reading
