An intriguing concept.

The idea here is to say things to five people, using no names, being completely honest. My therapist recommended it! So here goes.

1) I have hurt you in ways that I can never undo, but you are precious to me and I adore you. I wish I could lift some of the burden of pain you struggle with, but you will have my love and respect always. You haven't always been perfect, and neither have I, but I think you're a damn fine woman and I will treasure forever the gifts you've given me. Because of you I have the confidence to stand up to bullies, defend my beliefs, and go after what I want, yet I also understand the meaning of sacrifice and compassion. I wish I could somehow explain in words how much you have affected my life and my very self, but I can't, and I'm no songstress, so I can't even say it with music, but I hope you know how much you mean to me. Even when you drive me nuts (and yes, that still happens, and I imagine it always will) I adore you. You are an amazing person and I grow to cherish you more every day.

2) You were my first love and my first heartbreak. And you don't know that you were either. Things work out for the best, I think, and I hope you're happy, wherever you are. Sometimes I wonder if I wasted my time on you, but I think in the end, as the Muse Herself says, "You live, you learn, you love, you learn." And learn I did.

3) My dear, I would do anything for you, whether it be talk with you all night or drive seven hours to support you at a wedding you don't want to be at. You never fail to have a wise word or a shoulder to cry on, and sometimes you have both. I continue to find things to admire about you. You are a treasure and one of the best and most genuine people I know. I've seen some of your flaws, and I know you aren't perfect, but I think you know that too, and that is what makes you so strong. Friends like you are my heart and soul and strength, and I am so blessed to have you. You will go far in this world, dearest, and I look forward to seeing that. I think we'll be "friends till the end of time."

4) You claim to be "genuine" and that a particular person "has strong misconceptions" of you, "won't talk to you about them" and "is surrounded by people who feed him these misinterpretations and reinforce his beliefs." Yet you can't seem to understand that he can't talk to you because you have walled yourself in with defensiveness. I used to count you as a friend (before I realized you were never genuine about your feelings towards me), and you still have admirable characteristics. I wish you were more the man you could be, because I'd probably still like you, but now, you're the fakest person I know, and you're unconcerned about your honesty: you never bothered to check whether anything you've told others about me was true before you spread the lies around. I've been where you're headed, and it's a lonely world when you're the grandly misunderstood one who's really right. You underestimate this man's will and his intelligence to assume he could be "fed" anything, and those who truly care for him wouldn't do that anyway. Sometimes, you have to be willing to let go before you can hold on to what you want; you don't seem to know this yet, and I doubt anyone can help you, but one day I hope you wake up, and I hope that day comes before you've wrecked beyond repair all the relationships that matter most. It only gets harder the longer you wait; trust me on this.

5) You and I haven't always had an easy time of it, but I unreservedly love you, and I want nothing more than to grow old with you. It's taken me a while to appreciate exactly who you are, and I still have so much to learn, but you made me rethink a lot of my ideas and dogmas, and you consistently offer me the challenges I need to grow. When you smile I remember exactly why I fell in love with you in the first place. I can imagine my life without you, but I don't want to. Even though you frustrate the hell out of me at times, I love my life with you in it, and I would, really, do almost anything for you, not just the "I'd lie down in the streets and swallow swords" crap but real sacrifices. I think you know that. You have a great heart, and I am blessed to have your love. And "even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music," I hope we will continue to be our independent selves while sharing that music.