See You Next Summer, Gravity Falls

Dear Pines Family and Gravity Falls Residents,

Schmebulock. In other words, thank you and good-bye.

Thank you for being there for my family over the last few years. We met you when our son was still taking naps and would get a quick cartoon while snuggling before his nap. After a few weeks, we felt as though we knew you all so very well.

For three years, you gave us some wacky adventures. From Globnar to gnomes, we came along for the ride. We watched as Mabel obsessed over boys. We watched as Dipper awkwardly tried to not quite woo Wendy. We watched as Soos awkwardly stumbled his way through life. We watched as Grunkle Stan scammed people. We watched as Robbie angstly wrote emo music. We did more than watch, though. We joined in.

Gravity Falls became more than a fictional place. It became a shorthand. An inside joke. A place we felt at home no matter how weird we were. We spent our summer vacation with you and our new friends. We laughed with them. We cried with them. We looked askance at all the weirdness with them.

And we loved it. And we loved them. And we loved you.

Thank you for the henchmaniacs. Thank you for the amazing robot house. More than anything in the world, now, I sort of want a robot house that kicks some major evil pyramid butt.

Thank you townspeople for joining in and saying goodbye to us all. Thank you for giving us Imperator Grenda and Imperator Sandy. I never knew I needed them until you gave them to me. They were amazing.

Thank you Mabel’s grappling hook. Once again, we were reminded that you always need a grappling hook, even when you don’t think you do.

Thank you for making my son laugh at Gideon being forced to do cute dances for all eternity.

Robbie, despite you being our emo archnemesis? I want a Destiny Hoodie.

Wendy, you look even better in a pine tree baseball cap.

Dear Grunkle Stan, you might have been a bit grunklier than usual, but you proved that you’re a hero. We always knew it. We always knew that the grunkle hid the soft side. We knew from the time Dipper traveled through your memories. We knew watching you bring back Stanford. We knew. You tried to hide from us, but we always knew.

At the end of the day, Pines family, you were an extension of our family. While watching your send off, I asked my son, “What do you think the whole story is about?” He replied, “Friendship and teamwork.”

I’ll be looking for the Gravity Falls bumper stickers on cars the next time I travel.

We’ll miss you, friends. We’ll see you next summer.