February 16th, 2021

Hey you,

Congratulations!! You have made it through your first 4 years of college. Honestly saying that right now feels kind of insane. I can not even imagine what this day is like. I hope this day went by a lot different than your high school graduation in 2020. You are currently 19 and I just want to say how proud I am of you. You have come a long way in life. While this is not the end of the school path for you yet, you are getting closer and closer. You want to become a Pediatric Occupational Therapist. This is something that you really want to do and you are so excited about this. You most likely will have to get a doctorate degree and you are fine with that you just don't know about all the cost of paying for a master's and a doctorate degree. Even though you are only a freshman when writing this, this is something that has been weighing on you a lot lately. I hope you have finally figured it out. Where are you going to school next year? Springfield? St.Louis? Kansas City? You would like to stay in Missouri for school because it will be cheaper and those are just a few places that you are looking into but you have no idea yet. As of right now, you are living in your first apartment. Where are you living now? Thinking about this now I have no idea where I will be in the next year to a year and a half if my roommates transfer to different schools. It is really scary to think about, but I know you figure it out. I hope that you have enjoyed these four years of college and that you have made so many new friends and kept the old ones. Where are you working now? You currently work at Panera and would like to get a "real" job over the summer but you will most likely keep this job and just get a second one. You are working on building your resume right now, mostly for grad school. You are trying to get a ton of volunteering started so that you can have many years under your belt. You also want to start job shadowing over the summer. You are starting to volunteer that a therapy center with special needs kids next month and you are super excited. I hope it goes well and that you are still there. You are still looking for other places but it is hard with the coronavirus right now. I would hate to ask this question but is the pandemic finally over? When did it officially "end" if you could say that? It has just been really crazy still and it has almost been a year since it hit you really hard. As of right now, you are not in a relationship and you are just fine with that. You are just living your life with school and work right now. I am so proud of who you have become and you are amazing I hope these next years of school/life are even better than the ones before.

Love,

You