#dewtask001

[jvnimo]

It’s been a weird year, Abuelito.

I miss you still. Some days it feels like a long time has passed, and some days it feels like yesterday. I miss you more now that I live in the valley, but I also feel closer to you. Lots of contradictions.

Was it like this when you were here? There was a murder in the valley. Everyone said nothing like it has ever happened before. We figured out who did it, and that’s taken care of, but it made everything feel different. People are mad at me for leaving instead of helping solve the mystery. I was just scared.

I’m back now, but I don’t even know if I want to be here anymore. Just when it was starting to feel like home too.

I’m just tired of feeling like I don’t know what’s going on I guess. Just once I wanna have something that’s mine, you know? I’ve never had something that I was good at, and it felt like this could be that thing, and people might like me here, but that’s all gone now.

Everyone always tells me stories about your farm, how you had every crop anyone in town could want, and that they were always the best. They say you would be proud of me for starting it again, and for a while I thought maybe you could be. Me and Lizzie were figuring out some crops, and I thought maybe we might be able to sell some to the general store. People would be eating crops from our farm!

They all died when we left. We got a couple things going again, but it feels like starting over again.

I’m sorry I haven’t figured it out yet. This letter doesn’t even make sense. I hope I can figure it out soon, and that I can still make you proud.

[wintcrwinds]

Matty doesn’t really write letters.

outgoing voicemail [02/04/20] ✉ Mom Cell (Asia)

Hey Mama, this might be dumb, but do you know any good cake recipes? It’s Bartholomew’s birthday in two days and I was gonna try to make him something? I know what you’re thinking - ‘Matty, that’s crazy, you don’t even know how to boil water!’ - but, like, he does so much for me and stuff and I wanted to surprise him. He always makes a cake on my birthday... anyway, let me know if you have time. I know you’re really busy. Love you.

outgoing voicemail [16/04/20] ✉ Mom Cell (Asia)

Heeeey, so, don’t freak out, it’s totally fine, but uhhhhh I might be in the hospital? I’m not even, like, badly concussed, Bartholomew just said I should call you because you’d be worried. But surely me calling makes you more worried? I don’t know. It’s not an emergency, they’ll let me go home tomorrow. Call you again soon.

outgoing voicemail [09/05/20] ✉ Mom Cell (Europe)

Hey Mom! Happy Mother’s Day! I hope the flowers reached you okay, I sent them to the hotel address your PA gave me, but the receptionist was really French and I’m not totally sure he didn’t think they were for him... um, don’t worry about calling back if you’re busy, I just... yeah! Wanted to check you got ‘em! Okay, I love you, bye.

outgoing voicemail [12/05/20] ✉ Dad Cell (Europe)

Hey Dad, I was just wondering, do you remember the name of that show we used to watch when I was little? It was a cartoon, and I remember there being, like, a detective and maybe some flying monsters? And a guy from Star Trek was in it, but I don’t know which one. I just though it might be cool to watch it sometime... um, text me if you remember, but don’t worry if not!

outgoing voicemail [30/05/20] ✉ Mom + Dad Europe Office

Hey Mom and Dad, I was just calling to thank you for the hoverboard. It’s, uh, it’s really great! Better for indoors than my skateboard, am I right? Um, I miss you guys! It’s - uh, I hope all your work stuff is going good... If you’re around later to chat or something, you can totally text me - I’ll be up late eating all the cake anyway. Okay, bye!

outgoing voicemail [20/06/20] ✉ Dad Cell (Europe)

Happy Father’s Day, Dad! Did the whiskey get to you okay? I didn’t know what kind you like best, so I guessed - I hope it’s good. Also just, um, reminding you I’m moving out in, like, two days. Like, I’m sure you know that, your memory is totally better than mine, but you know. Just though I’d... say something.

outgoing voicemail [22/06/20] ✉ Mom + Dad Europe Office

Hey, it’s Matty! I mean, obviously it’s Matty, you have caller ID, I don’t know why I said my name. Anyway! I just wanted to let you guys know I’m all moved in, Bartholomew’s gone back to the house, and everything is going totally fine! I got groceries and everything, and I definitely didn’t get locked out and have to climb through an open window or anything. Um, okay! Just checking in. Love you. 

[jupiterdrcps]

kiran wakes up in the middle of the night and realizes that it’s late and he’s got too much on his mind and an enormous amount of guilt weighing on his chest that he doesn’t know what to do with. when he finishes the letter, he reads it over the next morning putting his sisters address stamping it with a cow stamp because he thinks that it would make her laugh, and sends it. 

Dear Amee, 

Sometimes I feel like you were meant to be born first. What I mean by this is, you’re a far more better person than I am, you have your life together much more than I do. I think I was a bad older brother. I know I was a bad older brother, actually. I guess it’s the one thing me and our parents relate to, we both didn’t know what we were doing when we were placed with these roles. (Them being our parents, me being your brother). I suppose I am grateful that I was the first born child, they didn’t know what they were doing with me, I suppose that’s how it is with first borns, yeah? Our parents were young and weren’t in love yet, I’m pretty sure dad told me that his parents were this close to disowning him because they got pregnant. It is what it is, I’m glad that our grandparents love us even if they don’t know how to show us. Maybe it’s just a generational thing. I think about that a lot. Which is like strange because I try very hard to not think about anything! 

I know when I left the first time to go to college you were sad because I would be so far away, it was the first time that we would ever be separated from each other, but I think we needed it at the time, and still sort of do.  I don’t know if I’m someone that’s meant to have healthy relationships simply because if someone sticks around me for too long they get damaged.We both have such strong personalities and clash heads a lot but I know that you would do anything for me like I would do anything for you. 

I don’t really know why I’m writing you this letter, I just couldn’t sleep tonight and had too much on my mind and didn’t really feel like drinking or getting high (surprise) and didn’t know where to put all this extra energy so I guess I decided that maybe this was the next best thing. I’m thinking about how I left the first time, like I said earlier, and how proud mom and dad were of me when I decided to give law school a try. I remember how dad smiled at me like I had finally done something that was worth something and mom gave me a hug and told me that “See you can do anything you put your mind to, Kiran.” 

I never told you this, but I spent that entire year fucking around. Sleeping with the wrong people, going to the wrong parties, and was just generally very depressed in my dorm room missing the valley, missing you, and feeling like this isn’t who I was supposed to be. But then I thought, if this isn’t who I’m supposed to be, then who am I? After that first year I had packed everything up and drove myself back home and I remember mom making my favorite meal and finding it hard to tell them that I wasn’t going back to school.

It wasn’t an easy decision to come by either. I didn’t want mom and dad to be disappointed in me, but mainly… I didn’t want you to be disappointed in me. I know that I should care more of what mom and dad thought of me but I don’t. I guess I came to that conclusion over time of realizing that no matter what I do they’d be disappointed in me. I wasn’t the son they wanted me to be. You know when you name your child it’s everything you want them to be. My name means ray of light, and I often feel like I’m just this tiny spark of fire that eventually turns into wild fire. Damn, that’s kind of a deep thought to have. Like I said, it’s late this probably won’t make sense in the morning. 

I never apologized for how I acted when dad died. We all know that I went on a bender and refused to go anywhere near anything related to dad and made you and mom clean up not only his mess but my mess. When I finally got my shit together, thanks to you, I decided to take over the farm because I felt like it was the least I could do, and I know that there was some relief from mom in my doing so. I also knew that I couldn’t stay in the same house as her. I don’t think she’s truly ever forgiven me for all the times I embarrassed her. I hope that someday she can. I hope someday that you can. 

Because you’re my best friend. 

I’m very proud of you Ames. You did everything I couldn’t do. I know mom is proud of you. Dad would have been too. He loved you so much. 

It’s nice knowing that whenever I fuck up again I have a guaranteed lawyer to have my back. 

I’m going to end this letter now, it’s already probably too long. I just wanted to let you know that I’m thinking of you, I wish we could hang out more.

Your brother, 

Kiran.

[jillianmercers]

UNSENT.

Dear Nora,

I don’t know if you remember me. I don’t blame you if you don’t. If I were you, I probably wouldn’t remember me. And if you were me — I wouldn’t remember you. That’s just the way it is.

But you were my competition that day. Part of it at least. That day. Then again: it’s only that day to me. To you it’s probably a day. You had a competition then, if you didn’t know. I don’t remember every time I’ve skated, every costume I wore, every jump I’ve done. You don’t either. At least, I assume. Maybe you have a photographic memory. It’s probably not worth passing every test in high school, because maybe you still see me jump and twist and fall and cry out and I’m lying on the ice and I’m crying and screaming and my mom rushes out and there’s paramedics and then the competition continues. It goes on, swiftly, and you win. Do you remember that? Do you remember winning?

I feel like I’ve lost to you every day since. 

Not you specifically, not really, but I think about you most. You went on right before me. And I saw you skate, and it was beautiful. You were fucking fantastic. I had my eyes on you the entire time because that’s the kind of performer you were. You flew. 

And I remember seeing you and thinking: I’m better. I was. I was better than you and I should have won, but I didn’t. I didn’t. And it wasn’t the losing that ruined my life, obviously, because I’ve lost before. Everyone’s lost before. But it was the last time I lost, and I didn’t even know it. I didn’t believe the doctor when he told me that I wouldn’t ever be able to skate. He told me walking would be hard for a while. I had a fucking cane. I could literally fly through the air with blades strapped to my feet since I was five years old, and I had to walk with a cane. I can walk now. I can run, sometimes, if it’s not too fast for too long. I can dance. But I can’t skate.

I wish you’d fallen that day. 

I know that’s mean of me. It’s cruel, and it’s horrible, and I should never have done it. But if you’d fallen, I could feel bad for you, and I could move on. I could be skating. I could be doing the one thing I was good at — it was my life. You have to understand, it was my life. It was all I had. It’s still all I have, memories of it. All I am anymore is the fact that I’m not doing it. It’s like I’m a shell of a person because I’m not skating.

 I work for my parents in the same teeny tiny little town with, like, two stores. I go and I get drunk every night at the one bar in town. Actually, I drink every morning, too. Hair of the Dog, or something like that, before a noon shift at the store. The Store. One of two. And, it’s like ... every day I’m this great fucking disappointment and I realise I fell and you didn’t, it’s like I never got up off the ice. I’m still lying there, hoping that maybe if I don’t get up, it never happened. Maybe if I don’t get the chance to fall again, I can’t disappoint anyone anymore. How does it still feel like I’m falling if I never even got up?

It’s like I’m falling every fucking day. 

Yours, 

Jillian Mercer 

P.S. Did you ever make it? I can’t watch competitions. Not even the Olympics. I tried. But when I saw them, I just sobbed. I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed and locked myself in the room for the rest of the day. They were flying, just like you did. Just like I did. And it’s like I’m falling over and over and over again every time I see them stick the landing. 

How many landings have you stuck since then? 

[silvcrlining]

there’s a letter on the ground beside one of the park’s trash cans. wrinkled, unfinished, left to burn under the sun like a half-written REGRET. maybe you don’t notice it; maybe you pick it up and throw it away; maybe you open it and don’t recognize the near-chicken scratch; and maybe finley’s penmanship is all too familiar----

hi, greetings, hey maisie,

i hope you’re doing well. i’m writing to let you know that i’ve been in stardew valley for a few months now. things are going good. the people here are nice. i have a nice freelance photography business running. i’m living on my own. the place is a tiny bit rundown, the toilet sometimes doesn’t flush well, but i like it. the place, not the toilet.

did i ever tell you i moved out of dc? i don’t remember. well, i did. i think i realized the city was getting to be a bit too much for me. i needed a change. i’d say you’d like it here, but you probably wouldn’t. not long-term anyway. you’ve always been more of a city girl.

i thought about texting you but that seemed a bit too... i don’t know, casual? writing a letter seems more proper. also, writing letters is kind of common here, i think. like, the mayor contacted me to take photos for some of the events here, and he sent me a letter instead of an email or something. it’s weird. but here i am, in the park, writing a letter. i wish i had a feather pen, would make this feel even more old-time-y.

how are you? i know we haven’t talked in a while. are you still in dc? are you dating anyone? how’s your family

i don’t know why i’m writing this. i think i just miss you sometimes. which i know i shouldn’t, or at least, i know you probably don’t care, which is fine. you shouldn’t. i was an asshole. i still am? i don’t know. i’m figuring that out. but yeah, you’re just great, and i’m just me, and i miss how safe i felt with you, and i know it’s my fault that that’s over.

part of me is scared i won’t feel like that again, you know? or that if i try to, i’ll mess it up again. or that maybe i just can’t feel like that anymore. like, maybe my brain is just programmed to reject feeling safe at this point. i mean, the whole reason i came here is because it was so different, and because i was so scared of it, and because it didn’t make me feel safe. maybe that’s just how i’m meant to live.

i should just get an rv and be a nomad at this point.

is this making sense?

i should stop writing. okay, i’ll do that.

[alwaysgcld]

Dear Nonnina,

I can already picture what you’re probably thinking as you open this: “Does he not remember how to pick up a phone?He went out of his way to teach me how to use the facetime, and now he’s sending letters instead. Dio aiutami!”

Before you pick up the phone to give me a piece of your mind for being a smart aleck, please just keep reading the letter.

Growing up, gramps always found any opportune moment so he could to tell us your love story. How the beautiful girl that moved down the road from him at sixteen had his heart from the moment he saw her. “Fu amore a prima vista, non ci piove!” All the weak-kneed, heart fluttering moment you sent him into by just looking in his general direction. Heaven help if you smiled too! How you rarely gave him the time of day, far more invested in your studies and helping out with your parent's restaurant. That it took him writing you a letter every day for three months before you gave him a chance.

And that you had insisted that it wasn’t even the letters themselves with his flowery language that made you decide to give him a chance: It was the single gardenia that he always sent along with them. Did you know it’s said that they represent secret love? Though I think everyone in that town knew he was in love with you so not much meaning for your story.

No matter how much you persisted on that, everyone in the family knows that the letters meant the world to you. along with the ones for each birthday spent together, and one for every anniversary together after you two got married. Bet you still keep them in that hatbox on the top shelf in your closest. Nevermind how I know that. Your birthday is coming up soon and it’ll be the first one you’ve had since he passed and well...

With gramps gone, I hope you don’t mind if I fill his shoes by sending those birthday and anniversary letters.

It would let his soul rest easier, I think, to know you still had the joy of receiving those letters you loved so much. It’s not the same, but I hope it serves as a reminder of the love you two shared and how it lives within all of us. Thank you for all the love you have given over the years. For the support and encouraging words during troubling times. For everything, really. I don’t think I'll ever come up with the right words to truly express my thanks so that will have to suffice.

Don’t worry, I won’t try to weasel out of calling you on your birthday because of this letter. You’ll get the call, 8am sharp as usual. Take care of yourself, nonnina.

With all my love, Benigno (your favorite grandson)

P.S. Unfortunately, I'm not able to send the gardenias with this letter. if you look at the photo of Iseul I included, you’ll see some there.

Nonnina means “little grandmother” Dio aiutami means “God help me” Fu amore a prima vista means “It was love at first sight,” non ci piove literally means “it doesn’t rain on it” but it’s an Italian idiom that means “no doubt about it”

[ogdewhq]

whether it’s the feeling of ripping open an envelope or pressing your pen to paper to let the words flow, there’s something special about snail mail. what some consider a lost art is alive and well in stardew valley, and maybe that’s part of its magic. for our first task, each muse will write and send a letter. they can write letters to each other, friends and families back home, or anyone else they’ve met through the years. if you participate in this optional task, please tag your letter as #dewtask001 and share it on the dash! the task will never actually close, but we encourage you to try write the letter in the next week to get some juices flowing!

[jvnimo]

to my loving mothers,

how are you? missing you every day, of course. and i’m not just saying that because i have to…at least not entirely :) spring is one of my favorite seasons in the valley, right up there with winter, fall, and autumn. i’m kidding. you two already know winter is my favorite, but it is invigorating to see everything come back to life right now.

the cherry blossom trees are beautiful. i’m under one right now, and it reminded me of the time we picnicked here together, which reminded me to write. how’s percy? give him a scratch behind the ears and leave him alone for a few hours for me.

there isn’t much news to share. it is the valley, after all. but there is a joja mart opening in town soon. i’m sure you’re as surprised as i was when i first heard. what business does a corporation like joja have in the valley? to be honest, i haven’t figured it out yet. i’m hoping it doesn’t cause too many waves in town. the valley might not seem like much to those corporate sharks, but it’s home for all of us. we give as much as we take, and we live our lives here. it’s a little frightening to imagine what they could do to disrupt all of that.

stay tuned, i guess. i’ll be sure to keep you posted. unfortunate pun unintended. i love you both, and my summer visit is just around the corner…though it wouldn’t kill you to get some of the stardew valley fresh air. kidding. (but only so you don’t make the smartass comments.)

yours, alex