Rider Strong

If I was honest, I might not have even written her back.

I mean, we were in very different places.

She was single, childless, hopping around in different countries.

I'm married.

I have a kid.

I live in LA.

I work as a writer, director.

And as you might know, I host a podcast about the TV show I was on as a kid.

And I'm Will Friedle.

Willow was still chasing new experiences, new people, and new places in a way that, when we were young, was exciting and admirable.

But now that we're in our 40s, it felt a little desperate, erratic.

There's a few traumas Noah could be referring to here.

There was the fact that she grew up on a collective in the woods.

She definitely had some awful boyfriends.

There were drugs.

But the central trauma of Willow's life had to do with her sister, Anna.

Anna was two years older than us, which isn't much, except when you're 15.

Back then, she was in a whole other category of existence, and I probably would have gotten to know her better, except on Halloween night, 1995, Anna disappeared.

It was a horrible time.

For a couple of months there, it seemed like everyone we knew was a suspect or had a secret.