serendipity

whether in literal years or just in our souls, we are elderly. we are worldweary. we're like, "i am NOT here for reality. fantasy only, baby! i just want to live in this fictional world and forget about the real one for a while. i want to think and write and talk about made-up scenarios for these fictional characters. even if we're talking about the real people, we're talking about the fictionalized versions of the actors' public personas. we're playing with dolls, here, people. this is not real life. that's kinda the point. idgaf who that 25-year-old is actually fucking. that's his business. that has nothing to do with this. leave the kid alone ffs"

Yet here we are. Like A.M. says, "You know, I'm always coming back to this place." The brick wall, the boys, the memories, the music. We'll always return, always miss it, always love it. Ten years since we lost something incredibly special, but also ten years we've spent celebrating it without pause. Ten years supporting solo projects. Ten years with a defunct boy band in our Spotify wrapped. Ten years of 1D covers at solo shows. Ten years of heartbreak and loss and grief. Ten years of love and support and community. I can only hope that the four remaining boys understand how much of an impact they've had, how much their legacy as a band has lingered in us for an entire decade, how much they are loved. How proud are they to still shine the way they do knowing boy bands so often fall into irrelevancy when their shelf life is up? But clearly, they weren't just some baby faced boyband, they were something timeless.

Here's to another decade of blasting their music, of tickets to solo shows, of hobama edits, of Zayn's perfect age-defying face, of getting sold by our drug addict mother, of Niall in your ear, of friendships and solidarity all because of some British (and Irish) men. Maybe ten years from today, music snobs will look back on their work as a collective and recognize how talented those guys truly were. But for today, Directioners can attest to their talent and impact the same way we always have. I love you 1D. It's always hard saying goodbye, but you never really left us, did you? </3