Dear fam,

We met five months ago, and since then we’ve shared laughs, tears, and screams. In all honesty, we shouldn’t work. All of our personalities are completely different -- we have everyone ranging from passive aggressive to very aggressive (aka me), but it all works cohesively with a few bumps along the way.

This amazing friendship started one night with a failed attempt at crafting. From this day on, I’m pretty sure we just kind of gravitated towards each other because, let’s face it, we had no other friends. It’s OK, though, because we had each other, and that’s all we needed. Thank goodness we were loners, though. I honestly have no clue what I would have done without y’all nor how different my college experience would be.

One of my fondest memories of all of us is one of the first ones we made. It was actually at the first time we met and had to deal with the aforementioned crafting failure. I was painting my frame and I went to write words, but I messed them up. I thought the simple solution would be just to make a box and in this box write whatever I needed to, and it would all be OK. This was completely wrong. From this point on, the story of the black box was born. I actually do put a black box on some of the crafts I make so I can look back and laugh at how terrible I am at crafting. It’s cool, though -- there are so many other embarrassing things for me to be able to use against you guys in the future.

This is where everything turns sappy, so enjoy this because a lot of this I will never tell you guys in person.

I love you guys so much. I’m so happy that in such a short amount of time I not only found my bridesmaids, but the people who will likely take care of my children when I’ve had enough of them, or the women who I will call when I’m seriously in need of a break even if you do live hours from me.

You women are some of the best things to happen to me in my first year of college, and I can’t thank you enough for dealing with me. Thanks for still agreeing to see me though I lose it every time something funny is said or I’m constantly crying for no apparent reason. I can’t imagine where I would be without you guys, and I’m so lucky to call you guys not only sisters, but my best friends.

I would never have thought I would connect with so many women so quickly or that I would look forward to seeing you guys every day. From the weekly family dinners to the laughter shared around a table at the STU, I couldn’t ask for a better group to call my family. Also, who else would I want to share endless fights about how I'm obviously so much better than everyone?

Thank you for making me so happy and helping me find my place in this world. Thank you for making me laugh when tears are about to fall. Thank you for letting me crash at your place when I need to get away. Thank you for everything we’ve shared since that first night together. It’s been a blessing and an honor.

~love, your mom