#been seeing a lot of lies about maryssa that I don't appreciate. so I decided i'm just going to tell the truth

[anna-scribbles]

maryssa @carpisuns has been one of my best friends for over two years now, and I just want to take a second to talk about how wonderful she is and how much of a joy it is to know her. 

I first knew maryssa as an incredibly talented author, and then as an incredibly talented artist, and then as a dear friend. she is so wildly intelligent, thoughtful, kind, and funny that it’s so hard to picture my life now without her in it. hardly a day has gone by in the last several years that maryssa hasn’t made me cackle the ugliest laughter or made me want to start crying from her insanely thoughtful encouragement. she doesn’t take herself too seriously which is fun and refreshing but also sometimes makes me want to shake her by the shoulders and shout, “do you know?? do you know how incredible you are???” because she is. maryssa brightens up my life in such a unique way; it is so obvious how genuine her care is for the people around her. 

the notion that maryssa is selfish in any capacity is genuinely ludicrous to anyone who actually knows her. literally last month I mentioned offhandedly in our group chat that I was feeling stressed about money, and the next day I saw maryssa had sent me $60 through kofi which helped me pay for gas that month. any time any artist we know opens commissions, maryssa is first in line because she has such a genuine love for supporting her friends, both with a constant stream of encouragement as well as with her resources. she’s taught me so much by her example of generosity and thoughtfulness. maryssa is an extremely talented and highly educated writer and editor and has offered up her english skills to help me on so many occasions, just because she is kind. she’s listened to me talk about the dumbest things on my mind as well as the important things, and has always - since day one - treated me with kindness and respect. she treats everyone like that. 

when I think about what it means to be an encouragement, I think of maryssa. when I think about what it means to love people well, I think of maryssa. when I think about what it means to be brave, I think of maryssa. I wish that anyone who thinks they can know everything about a stranger from a few labels in their bio could have an ounce of the character maryssa has - that they could learn to be half as kind as she is. you don’t know anyone’s story until you’ve lived it. and how inspiring it is to me that maryssa has lived her story and come through it so kind and strong and brave. how grateful I am that I get to know her.