a letter to Val 🫶
Val,
if there were words to tell you what your work meant to me, I would say them. I'd love to sit on a bench with you and spin you a tale that would take you on the journey that following your work took me, tell you how after the hardest time of my life, I found Top Gun. how I fell in love with how you portrayed Iceman, and how I went and saw Top Gun : Maverick four times in the theater because it spoke to my heart in a way that nothing at the time was.
I'd tell you how I found my friends - you led me to some of my favorite people, and while I don't get to talk with them or be with them very much anymore, it was your work that brought me to them.
I would tell you about how I had fallen into a funk, having dealt with something heartbreaking from the summer before, and that simply deciding to jump in and create something based on your movie, Conspiracy, brought me back into a hobby I really loved. writing World in Color gave me so much of myself back, and followed by this is what I wished for brought me to a self confidence in my writing that I hadn't experienced before. I also created the time to let go art, the line in Maverick that changed everything for me and gave me hope when I felt like I didn't have any anymore. looking at it now, it's somehow so unfair that I used the planes from Ice's funeral scene. it was hard enough letting him go, and now we have to let you go too.
Maverick really did mean so much to me then, and it still does now. this line is something I'm holding onto, white knuckles, crocodile tears and all.
and then, after reading your wonderful memoir, I created what I called the Kilmer Quilt. it meant so much to me, and I sent it to you and honestly have no idea if you ever got it. but, I am so grateful that I followed through and made it anyways, because quilting is now one of my favorite hobbies. yet another thing that you inspired.
things have changed so much since I last took a dive into your work. my life looks completely different than it did a year ago, when your movies were all that was playing in my headphones at any given time. people have moved on, different events have happened, and even though recently I've only been working on a few things for some of the characters you played that I really enjoyed, hearing about your departure brought me to a halt, brought me to tears that I can't seem to stop.
Val, you made such a difference in my life. thank you. you inspired creativity in me again when I didn't think I had any left. you led me to people that I needed, people that had an impact on me. and while today looks so much different than last year, and people and things continue to change and come and go, it's still you that brought me to this point. you're still part of the reason I'm here at all.
So thank you, Val, for changing my life - just by being you.
fly high, Ice ✈
~itsgoghtime
