the beginning??????? i wrote this when i was 17 and feeling stuck all the time, like my feet were locked in by cement. dramatic, sure, but entirely real also. this song was the spawn of feeling so overwhelmingly in love for the first time in my life. being even five miles apart felt like being separated by oceans and when i think about it now, i believe that had i not experienced that feeling, i wouldn’t have been able to write a lot of what i did for the four years to follow. it was that feeling that was so hard for me to articulate in normal conversation. i had to place it elsewhere. being alone at my piano was really the only place i felt like, “okay, i’m getting to the core of this.” and thank god. i guess more than anything what i feel now when i hear this song is the starting point of when i started to understand myself as a writer — my instincts, my weaknesses, my actual influences. putting this song at the end of the first project i’m able to share feels right because i feel actual closure. especially as i’m writing this. i’m endlessly grateful.