on graduating (to cohort 76).

I am on the cusp of graduating, so close I can almost touch it. It feels unreal, to be honest. I don't feel like I have any business graduating, as I still feel like the 18-year old I was when I first started college. My first couple years here were tough. I felt very much like a stand in to a life where I didn't belong. It feels sad to type that now and I wish I could give my freshman self a big hug and tell myself everything will be okay, because it is now.

I started my core education courses at the start of my junior year in college. Our program is set up so that you take classes with a cohort, which is just an odd and fancy way of describing a small group of students who take all their academic courses together. There were 25 of us. I was nervous on that first day because I knew I would be spending a great deal of time with these people and I really, really needed them to be my friends. Why? Because I didn't have many. There, I said it. I had one or two really great friends and other than that, I felt like a girl out at sea all by herself. That's really, truly what I felt like.

(Disclaimer: I had great friends at home, but they lived far from my school, so I felt lonely. They still offered me a world of support, though. And Jeffrey was a lovely support, too. He really was.)

On top of that, I had a big band aid on my face from a little spot I had to have removed a few days before. On my face. On the first day of courses with people I did not know, but would be spending a great deal of time with for the next two years. I'm not sure exactly what I thought was going to happen, but I guess it was something like these people won't like me because I have a band aid on my face, which is really dumb now that I think about it. Anyway, sometimes we're irrational as human beings and I can't explain my thought process, but there you have it. A band aid on your face means you will not have friends, no questions asked.

Well, a sweet and kind person (named Lucie) proved me wrong right from the get-go. She sat down next to me, and is it too unbelievable to tell you that right then and there I knew we were going to be forever friends? Because I knew it, folks, I really did. Who knows what we were talking about, but does it matter because HELLO, THERE WAS SOMEONE TALKING TO ME EVEN THOUGH I HAD A BAND AID ON MY FACE!?!! So, my theory about the human-repellant band aid was blown clear out of the water immediately, and then a lovely, curly-headed girl (named Jenn) joined us as well, and she was sweet as pie, too. (I knew education was the best major there ever was, Amen.)

And I am here to tell you that it just kept getting better. These people liked me! They cared about things I care about! They were interested in my life, my opinions, what I ate for lunch! They really, truly were. And it wasn't just the two girls that befriended me on that very first day (although we are still the best of friends and for that I am truly thankful), it was the entire cohort; all 25 of them! I kid you not, these were all nice and kind and gentle people who cared about me and not about the band aid living on my face.

All this nonsense about band aids is simply to say that I am mere weeks from graduating with a degree in education and all of the people who have gone through this program with me probably don't know just how much their friendship meant (means!) to me.

Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

They changed my life and I mean that with every fiber of my being. What it all comes down to is this: If you feel excluded or left out or like an outcast simply because you have not found your niche, please do not worry or think it has anything to do with you. I am here to tell you that you will find like-minded people and they will remind you that humanity is good, that friendships are strong and beautiful, and that it is unacceptable to be anyone but yourself.

So, thank you to Cohort 76 for the love and support you have offered me over the last two years and the love and support you will continue to offer in the future. You have meant more to me than I could ever express and you will go out into the world, teach with all your hearts, and you will make a difference. And if you ever feel discouraged or small, please remember that you have already made a world of difference in one person's life — mine.

for a friend.

I believe that my friends deserve the absolute best. Don't you? Their happiness is of the utmost importance to me -- because they've been there for me through the best and worst times. They've known me for most of my short life and we're still the best of friends, even though we landed in different places and have to make rare trips to Coldstone to catch up on each others' lives. So it's obvious that I want the absolute best for my friends, need the absolute best for my friends. Here's to a good friend of mine.

I wish I could find him for you, that guy. I wish I could tell him that I know the perfect girl for him and he'll chuckle and tell me he's been waiting. You'll start dating and it will be perfect. He'll buy you flowers on a Monday, and not because it's your birthday, or even your six month anniversary, but just because he loves you. He'll remember important dates like the anniversary of your first kiss. And he'll tell you to put on his favorite dress so he can take you out for dinner to celebrate. He'll tell you to get the wine, if you want it. And then he'll take you out for ice cream, because we all know it's your vice.

He'll dance with you in the street, and he'll appreciate your years of training, your superb form and talent. He'll love your friends (obviously) and he'll go to Coldstone with us, pushing tables together so we can all hear each others' pointless stories. But they won't be pointless to him because they aren't pointless to us.

He'll be in love with your family and his family will adore you. His friends will wonder how he got so darn lucky and he'll just smile because he wonders, too. He'll give you kisses on the forehead and he'll sit through the romantic comedy (and enjoy it) because it's what you wanted. He'll even sneak in a candy bar because it's more fun than buying from the concessions.

And at the end of the day, everything you've gone through will be worth it. Because he's worth it, and he always has been. I wish this and so much more for you.

*image.