Dear Dara,

I am so happy to share in the excitement of your graduation day, and I am so very proud of you. As I scan the many, many books in your room, I understand you to be incredibly well-read. A woman of the world, as my dear grandmother used to say. I look forward to perusing the shelves of your personal library again, as there were several books that caught my interest.

You might be wondering who I am and why I’m writing this with a level of familiarity that probably doesn’t seem very appropriate. I assure you, I’ve gotten to know you fairly well in recent weeks. As you may recall, you woke up one morning with your room completely rearranged. Trinkets were in their usual places, but with some added flair. Books in their usual corner but a little more studiously organized, and your study nook was left untouched save for a few new organizational tools, new stationery and fun Post-Its, and some cute, little succulents that were too hard to resist. (I hope you enjoy them, I know I did.) There were a few new wall hangings, things that I had tried to set up with help from your friend Reese, who certainly seems to enjoy this type of work. (I do, too, and I was so happy to see that you and your sister get HGTV).

As you have probably guessed, I am the person responsible for those changes. I’m sorry if the sudden changes offended you, and I hope you like the new wall hangings and all of the smaller touches, but I won’t be terribly hurt if it turns out that they have been moved around or discarded by the time I come around again. You seem to have some great friends in Reese and Etta, I believe, and you have such a kind, generous family who seem to spend a great amount of time worried about you. You were ill for your sister Hailey’s birthday, but like a good little sister, you insisted that you tag along for the family celebrations anyway. I know that that was a difficult, painful, and stressful evening for you, though you may not remember much of it at all, from what I’ve been told about how this whole thing works.

I don’t quite understand it myself, but know that you have friends in this, and that those very friends can help guide you through the many changes going on your life right now, especially this. I realize that I’m being very vague and that I probably come off as very cagey, but I’ve spent many, many hours trying to figure out how to tell you everything without scaring you off as well or making you think that you’re crazy.

Let’s start at the top, shall we? I’m Dawn, your alter ego of sorts. I went to Georgetown for undergrad, just like you, but at a far, far different time. My world is filled with fear and so many threats that remain unknown to the regular person, but I am one of few who set out to protect them. Like your world, we also have hope. There are people like me who were given a higher purpose. We protect our cities. We fight for our families, our friends, and we do our best for all of our loved ones. We fight the powers that be that are bigger than us and are darker than us, and we do our damndest to protect those we love from those who wish to cause great harm, not just to them, but to the world as a whole. We are superheroes, complete with costumes and capes and masks...but we are normal people with regular lives, too.

I have gone to great lengths to leave your life relatively untouched and unaltered each time I come around. As I understand it, you and I sort of switch places one week each month. This has happened twice so far, once around Hailey’s birthday and then again in May, at Mother’s Day. For some reason, this last time, you had completely given into me and let me be dominant. I’ve been told that it’s easier and less painful that way, but it does get kind of strange sometimes. I wanted to leave your life and friendships intact, and I tried my best to be you when I needed to. I apologize for having to deceive some of your friends and family, though I don’t think any lasting damage was done. I was told by your friend Reese that it there is a way for both of us to co-exist when I’m around, so maybe that is something that we can learn to do eventually. You might want to talk to her or Etta about all of this. I know that it’s a lot, and that none of it probably makes any sense, but I’m trying my best.

You and I are both academics. We have that much in common, at least, and I think the best way for you to understand all of this is to read. Your world seems to have a great deal of mythology around me and my world, and I think some of this should help. I suggest that you look up Hawk and Dove to start with. Read the Birds of Prey or Teen Titans next. Pay close attention to Dove in particular, as she may jog a memory or two for you. This may not make much sense right now, but please trust in this. To make your research endeavors just a little bit easier, I’ve pulled most of these resources for you, and you can find them in light blue box that I’ve left under your bed. Start there, read up, learn. Panic if you need to, I know I would.

This was a very long and winding way of saying things, I know. You’re a far better writer than I am, though I’m sure Georgetown would be proud of us both. It took me many, many words to confound you, but really, what I wanted to say is: congratulations on your graduation and best wishes for your next adventure! It will show up sooner than you know it.

Yours,
Dawn Granger

P.S. I used one of those "send an email to your future self" sites for this. Cool, huh?