In May 2021, actor Brittany Snowlost her dog, an 11-year-old terrier mix called Billie.
I felt like I was going to lose it.
Her close friend Jaspre Guest had lost her own dog, aPomeranian called Papaya, in June 2020.
I remember Brittany calling and being like, How did you do this?
I dont understand how you did this, Guest says.
The shared loss represented a personal evolution for the pair.
We had a connected story.
The premise that people can read and write letters sharing their experiences is inspired by Snows ownjourney toward recovery.
Sometimes sending a letter is more for you than it is for the other person, Snow says.
The self-care and the act of writing it is just as important as whoever receives it.
We didnt really set out to write a book, Guest says.
We set out to make a journal.
Still, at its heart, its a functional text.
Our deepest wish is that the book becomes a tool in your toolbox.
For now, though, theyre focused onSeptember Letters,which has been fittingly dedicated to Papaya and Billie.
It was sort of the all-encompassing idea of September Letters, Snow says.
Having a shared experience that you could both help someone through.
I wonder how you both navigate that.
Because your gut is never doing anything out of fear or ego.
With this book, Im more excited than fearful.
Maybe because this isnt my normal medium.
Im much more fearful of my career and things like that.
Jaspre: That saying emotions are guideposts was really relevant to this.
I wonder if thats the case for either of you.
Brittany: Regretting sending letters is my middle name.
Its like, Brittany Oh my God, why did I do that?
Like, thats, thats how I live my life.
Jaspre thinks Im good at it, but its because I have to practice it so often.
But Im working on it.
Charlotte: Do you still face challenges now?
Brittany: I definitely still face challenges.
In the past year I went through probably the hardest mental health challenge Ive ever faced.
In one day, in a matter of hours, my life turned completely upside down.
Thank god for my friends.
I dont know if I would have made it without them.
They reminded me who I was and the things I stood for.
I used all the tools I knew.
Charlotte: Jaspre, in your letter you wrote about your health experiences as a child.
Has letter writing helped you process some of those feelings?
And so when I had to sit down and write the letter, it took a while.
But it oddly did actually really help me look back and heal that part of [myself].
And I said, This is the worst part!
To read my own letter, to hear my own words out loud, was a trippy moment.
As women, it often feels really hard to choose ourselves.
Why do you think that is?
No one helped her at the airport.
No one helped her take her groceries out to the car.
She could do it all, and I think she passed that on to me.
But a lesson that Ive had to learn is that its OK to ask for help.
Charlotte: I was struck by how much humor is in the book, too.
Did you enter the project knowing you wanted there to be levity?
Brittany:We didnt.
Thats whats been really cool about putting together this book.
Especially with the Kid Cudi letter [and] Joel McHales letter, or any of my friends.
I didnt give them any sort of guidelines, which I think now looking back maybe I should have.
We didnt take out anything from anyones letters.
Joel McHale says sh*t about 80 times.
Thats an exaggeration, but I think it is [there] like 20 times.
Jaspre: Brittany and I speak about this a lot; social media is fake.
It was meant to be a place of connection and now it has morphed into this very disturbing landscape.
How do you handle that?
Theres just some things that are still seen as vain or misunderstood or attention-seeking.
And then I feel awful about that.
Brittany: I know, I saw that.
I was like, what the heck?
Its so long [ago].
Charlotte: Why was it important to circle back to those friendships?
Brittany: It was important because its legitimate and its real.
And she basically nursed me back to health for like four days.
And it wasnt the one that I thought was going to be able to do that, either.
They dont need to give you advice.
They dont need to fix it for you.
They just are there.
Charlotte: Finally, tell me about your friendship.
How do you communicate?
Do you write one another letters?
Brittany: I unfortunately call Jaspre for everything.
Like, from How do I work this new juicer?
to Do you have a psychic that I can call?
to, like, This boy was mean to me.
Its a lot of texting.
I find this relationship is very kismet and we just have something that we both didnt plan on.
We write each other letters on the shared note thing all the time.
Its just nice to have support.
I can tell the truth completely, and theres no sugarcoating it.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
