Hey you, it sure has been a while. 489 days to be exact, but who’s counting, right? Actually, I am and it’s because it has been the best, most invigorating 489 days of my 21 years here on this earth. Want to know something? I owe it all to you.
It was our freshman year of college and you and I went to different schools. Every weekend, you would skip out on “activities” with your fraternity brothers to drive two whole hours just to see me for one. You brought me my favorite candy and waited on benches with my dad through every shopping excursion mom and I dragged you two through -you ultimately collected pieces of my damaged heart, and mended it back together with every visit. You went to church with me and sang my favorite hymns and laughed your way through awkward family dinners with my step grandpa. You held my hand in front of the biggest frat daddies in your college town and you even took me to your alumni football game. But more importantly, you, for the first time in my life, had accomplished something-you made me feel like I was the only girl in the room; the prettiest, funniest girl you had ever met. You were, my one. THE one. So I moved. I left my mom and dad, my sister and brother in law, and not to mention the sweetest little boy who has ever walked the earth, my nephew. You took me away from my job, my church family, and my friends since kindergarten. Hell, you yanked me away from my favorite pizza place with those awesome subs we used to split. (I’m still working on forgiving you for that one.) But, you did it. You wrapped every ounce of my being onto your cold, callused fingers.
There I was. In your town, I mean, our town. You settled me into my new room, with new walls and new floors, with a new ceiling fan to watch, and a new light switch to reach for. With every day that past, you made me feel whole, totally complete. You took away my anxieties and replaced them with utter serendipity. Then you stopped. One month in and you stopped. You left me there with no friends, no mom and dad, no sister, no church family, and we all know I didn’t have my favorite pizza place there. You abandoned me, you abandoned us. Oh, and not to mention, I didn’t get into the sorority I wanted, well, the one you forcefully told me to join. But, you knew that since you stood on the sidelines of my whole life shattering with every waking moment.
I was not going to let you defeat me. I was going to pick my life up, one jagged piece at a time and do it with the biggest shit-eating grin you had ever seen. I got into a sorority, and I got a job. I made some friends and I went and sang karaoke at the bar you always went to. I found a new place I loved to eat at and I visited a few churches that year. So here I am. I’m here to say, thank you.
Thank you for bringing me the best sisterhood on the face of this earth. By the way, I have two positions in it now. Thank you for allowing me to have met my future brides maids, my shoulders to cry on, my big and little, and my little’s little, OH, and my little’s, little’s little! Thank you for the neighboring fraternity house that you hated, it’s my favorite place to go. Thank you for allowing me to be introduced to the best communications department in the country, leading me to some of the most renowned professors in the business. Thank you for bringing me to the people who have shown me how to love myself when I am not so lovable and who accept the weirdness in me that you never quite understood. Thank you for forcing me to love sleeping alone and now, there’s one less mouth to feed when I do make it home to those awkward family dinners.
These have been the best 489 days of my life. Applaud yourself, give yourself a pat on the back, my friend. Thank you for bringing me to my saving grace.
