Post by @itsstillthatkid

Hey. It’s me. I guess if you made it all the way through those pictures, you know why I asked you to sit with me for a while. I don’t talk about Pikachu much anymore. It’s not because I forgot him. I don’t think I could forget him if I tried. We were together for almost my entire life. Every new place I wanted to see, he was there. Every time I got knocked down, he was there. Every ridiculous plan I came up with, somehow he was right beside me for that too. I spent so many years thinking about the next town. The next battle. The next person we’d meet. The next adventure waiting somewhere over the horizon. I never really thought about there being a last one. I guess when you’re young, you don’t. You think there will always be another summer. Another trip. Another late night with your best friend. Another chance to do the thing you keep saying you’ll do someday. And then one day you realize there wasn’t. That last ordinary day together was the last one. For a while after Pikachu was gone, I stopped going anywhere. I told myself I was tired. That maybe I’d finally had enough adventures for one lifetime. But that wasn’t really it. I just didn’t know how to keep moving without the little guy who had been beside me for practically every step. Eventually I realized something, though. Pikachu never taught me how to stop. He taught me how to get back up. Again. And again. And again. So I started walking. At first, not very far. Then a little farther. And eventually I found myself out here again. Sitting beside a fire. Backpack next to me. Looking at some place I’ve never been before. It still feels strange without him. I think it always will. But maybe missing someone isn’t a reason to stop having adventures. Maybe it’s a reason to have a few more for both of you. So that’s what I’m doing. And if you’re still sitting there listening to an old friend ramble, maybe I can ask you for one favor. Don’t spend so much time assuming there’ll be another adventure that you forget to appreciate the one you’re having right now. Call your friend. Go somewhere stupid together. Stay up too late. Take the picture. Tell them you love them. Because sometimes you don’t know which adventure is going to be the last one. And when the time comes to keep going without someone you thought would always be beside you… keep going anyway. I think they’d want you to. Pikachu would’ve. And I do too. ❤️ #Pokemon #AshKetchum #Pikachu #90sKids #Millennials