MODEL: UNKNOWN, COSMOPOLITAN, 1983; BACKGROUND: COSMPOLITAN, 1983; TEXT: Y.B.D.

Tell me a totally true love story, I told my new friend, a fellow writer, dreamer, and all-around romantic. He seemed apprehensive about the challenge, so I clarified. It doesn’t have to be a whole story, if you don’t have one. It can just be a collection of your totally true thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Opinions. Questions, even. As long as it’s something true that comes from you, it counts. Because the thing about a love story is that it doesn’t have to be lovey-dovey. A love story doesn’t even have to have a happy ending. Or… any ending at all. In my book, a love story is really just a true story that comes from your heart. That means that sometimes, your love stories are gonna be sweet. Sometimes, they’re gonna be sour. And sometimes, they’re gonna be salty to the point of outright contempt. Such is the nature of love, amirite? But back to my friend, here. The very next day, I was glad to hear that he had taken me up on the challenge of telling me a totally true love story. But he was apprehensive about whether I should read it. Too dark, was what he imagined I might think. Too personal, maybe. Too revealing. I tried to reassure him. We’ve all got that darkness inside of us, I said, or something to that effect. Let it go, let it out, let the truth be known. And so, my new friend allowed me to read his totally true love story — which was based on the text of one of these very postcards you are holding now. Oh, I can’t tell you what it said, of course. That’s for him to know, and for me to keep safely tucked away in my own little chest of memories. But based on that totally true love story, what I would like to tell my new friend is this: yes, I think I would like to be alone in your head with you. ❤️‍🔥—Y.B.D.