Dear Senior Year,
One last year. One last year to make memories to last a lifetime. I hope you don’t disappoint.
Four years ago, I was in my dorm room (a forced quad, BTW) at a school I absolutely did not belong at. I spent my days mostly in bed, at the gym, or at the library because I felt so alone there. I’ll never forget showing up to my first day of class and asking a girl if I could sit next to her, and she said no. I knew right away this wasn’t my place to be.
Fast forward to today, I’m living with my best friends at a school I never imagined myself at in high school. Although I missed out on freshman year and my first semester of sophomore year here at UMass, this place has truly become my home. It all started in Maple Hall during the Spring 2021 semester, where I met my best friends. Despite practically being prisoners in the building, I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with anyone else. Junior year came along, and we all moved into our own houses and apartments. Even though we didn’t live just down the hall from one another anymore, these friends remained my core group. Now that it’s senior year, some stayed in place, some moved around, but the friends have still stayed the same. Senior year, I sure hope this remains true (even though I really don’t doubt it will).
I hope this year is full of lunches with friends at Blue Wall, family dinners at Hamp, hangouts and parties at South Pleasant, wine and Catan nights at Sunderland Road, pitchers at Stackers, popcorn at McMurphy’s, dancing at Spoke, movie nights with the roomies, and pictures and videos to document it all. You’ll want those photos and videos to show your kids someday and to reminisce on.
This year, I want to remember that I am allowed to make a big deal about things that are important to me. I am allowed to be sentimental about every moment here. I am allowed to tell everyone how I feel. Call me dramatic, but this is the last year I feel I have of being young and free. While I have no intentions of slowing down life after graduation, I need to be a reminder to myself to take advantage of every second of every day here. You only get these four years once. At the same time, I also need to remember that there are still places in this world that I haven’t been to yet that I will belong in just as much as I feel that I belong here.
Don’t throw away the weekdays waiting for the weekend. That’s like throwing away an unopened gift. There’s no need to lose this moment in time to think about the future. You have this whole year ahead of you. You don’t want to be walking across the stadium on graduation day feeling like you wasted any time. You know better than anyone that life is too short to not make the most of it all.
Senior year, I have high, high hopes for you, and I love you already.
With all my love,
Caroline
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