Dear Morgan,

You've just finished high school and you're off to a place six hours away from home. You're excited and only a little nervous about the next stage of your life. You are a bright-eyed, bushy tailed biology major (oh what a joke that turns out to be) and you're super pumped to get out there and save all of the marine animals. If I could tell you one thing it would be this: everything is going to change. Now I know upon hearing this you will promptly want to turn the car around instead of hauling literally every single thing you own up to the sixth floor of San Cat South (which you will soon learn is called FT because you're lucky enough to have a room that faces the street). Why is this? Because we both know (being the same person and all) that change is the one thing that you always have feared the most. The consistent routine of school has always been the thing you secretly liked most about it . You love the mundane, the expected, because the last thing you would ever want is to feel out of your comfort zone. I'm writing this letter to tell you that it's OK. Some very wise friends once told you that if you just tell yourself it's OK, then it will be. You've always been the girl with a plan, with an exact idea of everything you will do for the next ten years of your life. All of those plans will change. Everything you thought you knew about yourself and the world will change. Your friends will change. Your experiences will change. You will change. And it will all be OK.

You will meet some of the best people you have ever met in your whole life. In the beginning you would never see yourself being around these people. You think that right now because you are dumb. You don't think you are but trust me, you know nothing. You still know nothing to be quite honest, and you'll probably know nothing for a very, very long time. You pre-judged people because of who you thought they were and who you think you are. Lucky enough for you those people aren't as judgmental as you are and end up being some of your closest pals. And right now as you are writing and thinking about your friends, you even start to shed a little tear because your so grateful for all the people you've found. Now you currently would never admit to something like that (especially on a pubic platform) but you now knows that a little emotion here and there never hurt anybody. You will change. And it will be ok.

Now at the beginning of your freshman year you're going to be very torn. You will be torn between the girl you always thought you were and the young woman you are becoming. Your old friends aren't going to be the same. Your old relationships aren't going to be the same. It's a struggle for you. You have everything planned, everything meticulously mapped out and at first you are going to have no idea how to deal with something going against your plan. And you will make a new plan. And a new one...and a new one. Sometimes you aren't going to know what to do. Sometimes you will be sad. Sometimes you will be confused and frustrated. In time you will learn that it's OK to not have all the answers to all the questions life throws at you. Sometimes you can't control everything. You will change. And it will be OK.

It's a full year later and you have changed so much. Your life has changed so much. Your likes, your dislikes, you personality, everything has changed. The biggest difference is now, you welcome it. With open arms you are so excited for the twists and turns. The things you can't predict and don't expect. The best moments are not the ones that you map out carefully in our 10 year plan. The best moments are the ones you didn't see coming. You will change. And you're going to keep changing. And it will be OK.

With lots and lots of love,

Morgan

P.S. stop being so cold to your parents, they love you a lot (you're still working on that one though).