My heart is telling me to write this letter.

Dear Iced Americano Drinker, 

I don’t blame you for being here at Starbucks, too. It’s Friday. A beautiful Friday, the kind where there’s something in the air that just makes you breathe slowly and sink into yourself a little. The sky is entirely and wholeheartedly blue, and the sun is shining. It’s September. The leaves are turning, just a bit, but summer still remains, if only for moments more. Life is good, isn’t it? 

I didn’t go to my English class today. It was canceled, I promise (I’m not a skipping kind of student). So naturally, I woke up early and watched the sunrise with my best friend. Isn’t it funny, how the sky is always changing? This morning it was streaked with rosy pink and scarlet; now, it’s bluer than ever. We walked two miles, then made eggs for breakfast, and I revised an essay due next week (Shakespeare). But then, I caught a glimpse of outside from my window, and I realized just how beautiful of a day it was, and how I couldn’t spend the rest of my life wasting away, doing homework. That I really needed to live, you know? Hop into my car and make spontaneous decisions. Follow my heart, wherever it takes me. 

Well, my heart didn’t take me far. The Gettysburg Starbucks is my favorite, of all the ones I’ve been to. And as I stood in line, waiting to order, I began having existential thoughts. The annoying thoughts that bug you until you give in, and then you just can’t do anything else for the day. Do you get the same thoughts? You must. You’re a human, just like me, and you’re also sitting alone, on your laptop, in a coffeeshop on a Friday afternoon. On one of those days where it’s beautiful and bright and the weekend stretches ahead like a long road where you can’t really see the end. Did your heart tell you to come here, too?

“Yes, I’ll have a pumpkin cream cold brew. Grande.” 

That’s the funny thing, though. How do we know what our hearts truly tell us? How do we know that we’re not letting our lives waste away, with every decision we make? Part of me wishes that I got into my car this morning, that I would’ve kept driving. That Route 15 would have never ended, and maybe I’d end up in some random part of Pennsylvania, meet someone new, and experience something crazy. I think a small part of me always wishes this, whenever I go out. That life would do that amazing thing of just flipping upside-down for only a moment, enough to make me feel like I’m not wasting away. 

Do you see what I mean by existential thoughts? 

I know I’m not wasting away—but also, aren’t we all? In a physical, we’re-all-meant-to-die kind of way? It’s a paradox. Like autumn. Although the fall leaves are artwork, painted like this morning’s sunrise, what all this beauty really means is death. I could’ve driven all the way to Maine this morning, and still, this truth would be just as relevant. 

I don’t think I’m being as morbid as it might seem. I guess what I’m saying is that life has a funny way of making beautiful days, and how we can do whatever we want with them. Whatever our hearts say.

You’re drinking an iced Americano, large. Maybe you didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, because Americanos are strong (seriously, that much espresso at 2pm?). But who am I to judge? You’re wearing jeans, so maybe you believe it’s chilly outside, although it’s not. September is still summer. You’re not wearing headphones, and your focus is strictly on your laptop. You look my age, a college student, so you’re probably doing homework. Your eyes flicker back and forth—you’re reading something. 

And although I’m catching glimpses of you, I can’t help but wonder if you have any dreams. If you want to travel the world, see something you’ve never seen before, just like everyone else. That’s not a bad thing, though. I’m the same way. I’m only asking, because I want to know if we have more in common than just being here at the same place, at the same time. I want to know what you would do if you won the lottery, or more simply, what you want to do in life. What do you study, and why? I don’t know what I find so captivating about people and their goals for the future, but I’m so interested in how we all view life, collectively. 

If you had the chance to go anywhere in the world, would you take it? 

What if your heart begged you to take the chance? 

Would you listen to it? 

I don’t know why I’m writing to you. I came here purely because of spontaneity, but I brought my laptop, so I must have had this subconscious plan all along. And maybe I wrote to you simply because you’re sitting on your laptop, you’re drinking an iced Americano, and it’s a Friday afternoon. Our hearts have this funny way of leading us to experiences we can’t seem to forget. And maybe we’re not wasting away. We’re just following life, in whichever direction we like.

When I get back to campus, I’m going to finish my English essay, and maybe bake some muffins with my roommate. We’ll end the night watching reality TV. Or, maybe this won’t happen, and I’ll instead follow my heart. Let it take me wherever it likes. 

ABBA is playing on the Starbucks radio, and I wonder if you also feel inspired. After all, it’s Friday. A beautiful Friday, at that. We’re as human as humanely possible.