1. My Parents
Thank you for believing in me enough that you would allow me to go to college in the first place…i.e., thanks for trusting that I’ll wash my sheets more than once, eat 3 balanced meals every day, and get more than 4 hours of sleep a night. I tried my hardest. No matter how dirty my sheets or dead my eyes were, you loved, supported and, most importantly, visited and fed me.Thank you.
2. Coffee
Scalding hot, perfectly bitter and impossible to live without; although you may understandably mistake this as a description of myself, I would like to clarify that I’m addressing a warm cup of coffee. Thank you for being there when no one else was, for keep me up all night to study for that test I forgot about because I’m terrible at keeping a schedule, and for luring me to hip coffee shops that also sell delicious cookies.You are the real MVP.
3. My roommates
Thank you for understanding that I hate being alone more than I hate not eating a cookie after dinner. Thank you for listening to endless rants about everything under the sun, for letting me eat your food, and for refilling the toilet paper when I forget.
4. My favorite pair of shoes
I have owned you for at least four years of my teenage life. You go with every outfit – cute or casual – and you slip right on and off while maintaining your shape. Your sole hugs my foot like a warm glove, and the steps I take in you feel familiar even though I’m in an unfamiliar place.I love you, even though you smell horrifyingly awful.
5. The caf card-swiper
For my fellow Belmont students, we know him as Antonio. Thank you for greeting every student with a smile on your face, occasionally dressing up like Madea, and, of course, granting us access into the land of unlimited free food and coffee.You make any bad day better.
6. My favorite college professors (so far)
Thank you for teaching with passion and rigor. Your encouragement of curiosity and desire to know me provoked questions and answers that have opened my mind and expanded my world.
7. The Cook-Out Drive Thru
You make it more than possible for me to ball on a budget – cheeseburger, chicken quesadilla, french-fries, and a milk shake, all for less than $8? Yes, please. Not only that, but you allow me to order a disgusting amount of greasy deliciousness and then take it back to the privacy of my dorm and devour it in about five minutes. How crazy wonderful is that?I couldn’t live without you. Literally.
8. My hometown best friends who are miles away
Thank you for always swooping in at just the right time to remind me of who I am and where I came from. Every spontaneous FaceTime, Snapchat streak, and life-long inside joke continuously grant me access to the life I used to live. I needed those moments more than you’ll ever know.
9. Music
Whether you’re a song blasting through my headphones, notes bouncing around the room as I clink piano keys, guitar strings strumming in a gazebo, a live concert, or a whole musical I perform in the shower – you just get me. Thank you for being a sweat release and timeless companion.In the words of ABBA, “Thank you for the music.”
10. My college friends
Thank you for loving me for me while I’m still trying to figure out who I am. Thank you for the being the encouraging, caring, wonderfully crazy human beings that you are. You remind me that sometimes it’s okay to have absolutely no idea what you’re doing and spend hours staring at a blank word document contemplating your life.