Twitter had a #WhatIWouldTellA15YearOldMe hashtag going on and it made me wonder what I would be able to tell a largely ignorant, mildly seasoned version of myself if I had more than 140 characters to give him.

Hi, Francis. Let me tell you a few things I would like you to know when they’ve invented time travel before I die. You never liked the winding introductions so let me give it to you straight up.

In case of mortal catastrophe: I wish it to be known that I, Francis, resident of Planet Earth, born 23 orbital periods past, witnessed the cataclysmic events of this previous revolution around our galaxy’s star, and survived.

If there are other survivors out there, please know you are not alone. Strap yourselves in to your seats and remember to keep the oxygen tank on your person at all times. Please make sure you take care of other passengers in your sector because the spinning ball ship is not obliged to stop if you are unable to attend to your own needs or administer the requirements in your area.

It’s going to be another long trip. According to the flight plan, there will be turbulence ahead, but there will also be more clear skies than in the previous voyage. May the stars guide us home.

There is a town at the end of December
Where the stars look down at the sea.
It was a cold night when I realized
That the stars were looking for me.

So I put on my robe and I put on my suit
And I rode to the nearest space station to fly.
I went inside the rocket ship, looked back,
Just one more time, to say goodbye.

I flew, I flew, as fast as the rocket could,
Faster than the speed of light.
A million years later and a million years more,
I came home to twinkle in the night.

I think people confuse the capability of being alone with wanting to be alone. While I must admit that I enjoy being alone and love the company of solitude, it has mostly to do with the fact that I am capable of that isolation.

I think people are afraid to be alone because it’s socially constructed as the sibling of loneliness. We are social creatures by design, so we have a strong affinity for engagement. We like to be normal, to be part of the crowd, to be accepted, and that has everything to do with how we structure society.

Someday, someone is going to ask me who I truly fell in love with. They will ask how I fell in love and why it was you. And they will ask how it is possible to love someone without reservation, even when they couldn’t love me back barely half as much.

I will tell them that it was your smile and your laugh that embodied your juvenility and the purity of your soul. I will tell them it was your curiosity about the cogwheels of the human mind. I will tell them it was your intellect, your imagination, the beauty of your brain, ever expanding and seeking knowledge to conquer. I will tell them it was how you sought for more and feared your own demons but fought them. I will tell them you were radiant and you shone like the hope of the sun and the peace of moonlight.