To Julia, Ashley & Kerry

I am at a crossroad. The end of a beautiful season and the beginning of another.
I am not leaving because this chapter has been bad. Not in the least. It has been full of life. Incredible friendships. Beautiful memories.

I have grown immensely. Developed in so many ways. In faith. In love. In strength. I am not the girl I was when I first stepped foot on Clark University's campus three years ago.

So much has happened since that first day of college. So many experiences. Good and bad. Healthy and hurtful. Challenging. Hard. Beautiful. Thought provoking. Journey-changing. Experiences.

I have built friendships that have forever changed me. That built me into the woman I am today. I fell into the most beautiful support system at Clark. A family. Who knows me. Loves me. Challenges me. And is for me.

They have inspired me to be better. Called me out when I needed it most. Brought me down to earth. settled my soul in hard and stressful times.

Each one of these beautiful people has built me into who I am. They have made a mark on my life and my heart. One that will never disappear. Because I will carry it with me wherever I go.

I only wish I could do for them what they have done for me.

There are so many people who have shaped me, but there are three women who have been my roommates, my family, and my rock this semester and so much longer.

Julia: you have shown me how to live. How to say no to what I have to do and do what my heart wants to do. You have been my other half for the past three years. You can finish my sentences. You know what I mean when even I don't understand myself. You know every inch or my brain and my heart. You've helped me learn how to make my own decisions. And you've taught me everything from how to make homemade Mac & Cheese to how to do laundry on my own for the first time freshman year. You've helped me grow up and become an adult. And I couldn't have done it without your help. You've bee the greatest best friend I could have ever dreamed of. You've always been there and loved me unconditionally. You've picked up the pieces every time I've fallen apart. Guided me back to what I needed every time I was lost. I could not have asked for more from my best friend.

Ashley: You have taught me so much about faith. Something I knew very little about upon meeting you. You have inspired me to see beauty around me. To always look for God in the bad and ugly places. To find my own demons, acknowledge them, and fight them as best I can. You've shown me what it means to be wholly invested in something you love through your dedication to your music. How to search my soul and be vulnerable to what I feel. And to find humor in everything. To laugh uncontrollably and bring lightness to heavy situations. You've showed me how to follow my own heart and ignore what the rest of the world has to say about it. Without you, I wouldn't know how important that is. Without you,  I would not know that the proper and most delicious way to drink English Breakfast Tea is with milk and sugar. What a real Easter egg hunt really looks like. Or what pastina is.

Kerry: You have taught me so much about what it means to be a good friend. How to love people unconditionally. What it looks like to be truly humble. How to really listen and be there for those you care for. When I really needed to talk, you were always there with open ears and an open heart. You have helped me learn to be less judgmental and more accepting. More loving. You are one of the kindest and most genuine human being's I have ever met. You inspire me to find more joy in my life. You teach me how to find time for happiness and rest instead of always being consumed by stress. Your creative spirit is so contagious. And whenever I really needed to laugh, you always brought a huge smile to my face and a lengthy fit of embarrassing giggles. You inspire me to be more light-hearted and full of life every day.

Sharing my last semester in a home with you three beautiful women has been an incredible experience.

I am sorry I wasn't home more. Free to hang out more. Less stressed so I could have listened more deeply and been there for you more fully. I haven't been there for you three as much as you have been there for me. Being busy and over-committed is not an excuse, but it's all I have at this point.

I want you three to know that I cherish all of the times we have spent together. Whether it was doing homework silently in the same room. Watching weird TV shows. Laughing at YouTube videos. Dancing embarrassingly like idiots in our kitchen. Or dancing slightly less embarrassingly in public at a party. Cooking a meal together. Balling our eyes out to chick flicks. Going on a late night drive in Worcester. Lounging on the green. And so much more.

I feel so incredibly blessed to have found such beautiful, strong, supporting women to do life with.

We may fight and get annoyed. Because someone didn't do the dishes. Or left the common room a mess. Or forgot to ask us how our day was.

But we did life well together. We were there for each other. We loved each other to the best of our abilities. And we always supported each other. We did life well together. And that is something that not many college roommates can say after living with friends for this long.

I am so proud of each one of you. For the things you have done, and even more importantly, for the people who you are. I know you are going to do incredible things in this world. And grow into even more amazing women than you already are.

This is obviously not the end of our friendship. But it is the end of a season. A chapter. One that could not have been more perfect.

We hate acknowledging it. But things are changing. I am leaving. And while I promise to come visit you as much as I can, and hope that you do the same, I know we will never have this chapter again. The four of us. Living together. Sharing a home. Doing life together.

And so I want to thank you. For all that you've done and been for me. For the remarkably huge impact you've had on my life. One so big I cannot possibly describe it.

I don't tell you three enough. But I love you dearly. Thank you for being the best friends and family a girl could ask for. For loving me. Believing in me. And supporting me.

You will always be my family. And you will always be with me and a part of me wherever I go.

                    All my love,

                    Jessie