Dear Diary, I
Tomas, born in the quiet shadows of a Czech village near Prague, spent his childhood sheltering his twin sister and supporting their single mother through chores and peaceful acts of devotion. He recorded his days, his frustrations, curiosities, and private thoughts in a diary titled “Dear Diary, I,” a collection of innocence and growing introspection. But when a tragic incident claimed his entire village, including his mother and sister, Tomas was left alone, orphaned, and emotionally marooned. Years later, aged out of the orphanage and aimlessly wandering through a world that no longer felt like home, Tomas encounters Barbara, his late mother’s friend, who returns to him a piece of the past he believed lost: his diary. Within it, he finds a checklist—a series of goals whispered once in family conversations, now repurposed into a mission. His mother, foreseeing the weight he’d carry, had left behind a path: one stitched from the dreams she and his sister never got to pursue. With Barbara’s encouragement and her niece by his side, Tomas embarks on a quiet, grief-steeped journey beyond the Czech borders, completing each task not out of obligation, but in search of meaning. As he travels, Tomas must wrestle with memory and isolation, silence and sorrow, learning not only how to honor the people he lost but how to become someone who lives fully in their absence.
