Summer Letters 2: Amsterdam!

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Dear Sarai,

Thank you for your letter. Even though you blow up my phone every day with your text messages. LOL!

So I have some travel news… I am in Amsterdam! So I randomly on a whim decided to take a 6-hour train ride to Amsterdam… I just really needed a break and that meant getting the F out of Germany.

I have to say I have only been here for 2 days now and I am already in love with this city! And no, it is not because I am flying high through the amnesia haze…. ... It is because this place is so quaint, diverse and freakin’ happy….

Today I visited the Anne Frank House…I highly recommend checking it out. I was a puddle! Trigger warning: Nazi stuff.

Have you been to Amsterdam? What did you like about it? If you have not visited, would it be a place you would like to visit and what would you see/do?

Jeremie

Letter from Jara!

Dear Jeremie & Sarai,

How are you both doing?!? Let me start this letter by saying thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of your summer letter series! This is such a wonderful idea that I may just co-opt (j/k) as I’ve always wanted penpals and this feels like a modern equivalent.

So I’ve been pondering for a few weeks on what to write, ask, & share, and although we recorded an episode on intimacy which was quite revealing and everyone should listen to, there’s something incredibly vulnerable I find about writing letters (even ones that are typed).

But all of this has brought me back to our first conversations on the nature of intimacy and I was wondering, since we last spoke, has your guys’ relationship with intimacy changed?

I find for myself that this prolonged pandemic “state” has in many ways opened me up to shared intimacy and connection with folks (mainly strangers on the internet/ social media) that I hadn’t really let myself encounter before. But on the other hand it’s also made me weary of being in and sharing physical space with people. Like literally just being around people again (masks or no masks) has made me uncomfortable.

I know we’ll be unpacking the mental ramifications of this period in time for a while to come, but I’ve always been someone who was more at ease with shared physical space & intimacy vs. emotional intimacy and now I find that this has flipped for me and it’s very intriguing. Can intimacy exist in just an emotional realm without the physical? Is both necessary for “true” intimacy? I don’t really have an answer but I imagine it’s a yes. I’ve to now figure out what that looks like for me going forward. But I’m curious to hear what you both think!!

Sending love & hugs from the States!!

xx

Jara (The Brownstone w/ Jara Monique podcast)