A/N: Hello everyone! I've gone for so long - did you miss me? ;-)

One of my new year's resolutions is to post some of the stories I've been hoarding on my desktop. So, here's the first ... of many!

I wrote this one a while ago and while it has flashbacks, it takes place approximately 4 months following the BDM. It focuses a lot on Simon, River and Mama and Papa Tam as well as Simon and Kaylee's relationship - plus hints of Mal and Inara. A little something for everyone!

I hope you enjoy - please leave comments if you do!

Dear Simon,

I miss you. That's probably not much of a surprise to the top three percent, but it was to me. I thought for sure that once I got here I'd be so consumed with my classes and friends, I wouldn't have time to miss you. But I was wrong.

I'm homesick, ge ge. How did that happen? I really don't miss mother or father, but I miss my room and my old school and my few friends ... I never really believed that old saying about absence making the heart grow fonder. But I believe it now.

It's not too bad here, really. My classes aren't really challenging yet, but the instructors tell me they will get much more difficult soon. No one else here is as smart as me, but I guess that's all right. I haven't been able to dance yet. Sometimes at night, I twirl around my room and pretend I can hear music, like when we went to see the Nutcracker last Christmas, do you remember? One minute I'm dancing with the sugar plum fairies and the next I'm waltzing with the Mouse King ... It's not as much fun as when you used to practice with me though ... And no one will play games. They're always quiet and reading, never running or jumping or playing. Why is that do you think? They remind me of you.

I can't wait until I can come home for a visit. You'll have so much to tell me. Like whether or not you ever asked out Candace Chang or if you became the youngest doctor ever appointed to the m