To Mama – My Costco buddy

Thank you for being the funniest, warmest, most spectacular mom anyone could ever ask for. You’re my hero and my biggest inspiration; I’ve never looked up to anyone the way I look up to you. I know that you’re probably going to cry reading this, and I actually don’t mind this time because I know it means I did my job. Thank you for supporting me through everything I do, even if I don’t want to do it at all. Thank you for forcing me to clean my room because I’m always happier when it’s done. Thank you for waking me up every morning, even though I know I’m horrible to you when you do. Thank you for asking me what you can do to help me, asking me how my day was, and asking me if I want to go to Costco with you. I’m sorry that we’re both so busy and that I always have so much homework (this is a subtle hint to any of my teachers reading this). Thank you for watching all the shows I want to watch and rewatching my favorite movies. You’re such an amazing friend, mother, and cat owner, and you deserve the most love and joy the world has to offer. I hope you know how much happiness you bring to everyone in your life, and I hope you know how much we all love you back. Thank you for everything you do.

To Millie – The college kid

Sorry for partially stealing your idea for this, but to be fair, you were only in the class for a year, and I’ve written, like, three different columns about you that make up for it. You left me for Chicago, and I don’t call enough, and I’m sorry. I miss Barnes and Noble and Schuler and Plumfield, I miss Twizzlers and F1 and driving to school, and I miss you. I think you were made for college, and I think Chicago was made for you. Thank you for keeping me updated on your classes and friends and that one kid who’s somehow always around you. Thank you for millions of inside jokes, even if I don’t have anyone to laugh with them about here (the last time I went to Cane’s, I couldn’t stop laughing for about ten minutes, and everyone thought I was insane). I can’t wait until you come home for Christmas, and I can coerce you into buying me a gingerbread house again while we watch The Princess Switch. Thank you for giving me something to miss. Thank you for giving me something to look forward to. Thank you for letting me rant about things I love and things I hate. Thank you for putting up with me longer than anyone else has. I’ll never love anyone the way I love you, and no number of missed calls will change that. I promise I’m just busy. I love you so much I’ll even make you the maid of honor at my wedding! Keep sending me TikToks (especially if they’re edits of Aaron Taylor-Johnson). We can’t lose our streak now. You are the best and most authentic person I know; thank you for never being anyone except yourself around me. I love you, Millie, “no matter where.”

P.S. Thank you to Hope and Sofia for talking to her about F1 and books and everything else when I can’t.

To Addie – My favorite history nerd

As much as we bonded over writing in TCT, APUSH was when we really connected. I never thought I would miss that class, but alas, after the hundreds of hours of stress and crying that it caused, it’s a common occurrence to find myself wishing I was back in my seat next to you, right in front of Mr. Labenz, ranking presidents based on hotness and ignoring the most important lesson of the class. I still don’t know what the Tennessee Valley Authority is. I never want to take another partner quiz with you, but I dread the day we’re not in a history class together anymore. Thank you for forever being smarter than me, even if you don’t believe it. I’ll forgive your handwriting if you forgive my spelling, and I’ll even let you force me into watching Scott Pilgrim vs. The World if you keep letting me drink out of your water every day (sorry for getting you sick). Thank you for all of the Snapples, the matching car, the editing, and the help with directions. Someday we’ll get lost in a car together again, but to be honest I didn’t even care the first time, it just meant more time to spend with you. Please keep asking to braid my hair and crack my knuckles. Please keep inviting me to go thrifting and talk to you about politics. I’ve never been more grateful to be close to someone than I am with you. Thank you for laughing with me through our worst classes. Thank you for being the best friend anyone could ask for.

To Ella – The Schmidt to my Winston

I’m realizing right now that I have too much to thank you for—I don’t know where to start. Your laughter, sarcasm, and extensive knowledge of every sitcom ever have become such ingrained parts of my life over the past three years that I don’t know where I would be without you. Thank you for introducing me to The Good Place and New Girl (I’m sorry that I haven’t watched Community yet; I promise I’m getting to it), and thank you for letting me text you about them at all hours of the night. Thank you for somehow always responding. We joke about it, but you had the right idea in all of those freshman-year columns. Time is moving fast, and suddenly, we’re not freshmen, crying while reading To Kill a Mockingbird with Mrs. Velie for the first time. Time is moving fast, but it’s hard for me to be upset about it when I think back to how much of it I’ve spent with you. Every class we’ve had together throughout high school has been better because of you, and I physically cannot wait until next semester when we have TCT together again. You’re my Schmidt, my Amy, my Ryan, my Eleanor. You’re the best of all the characters you love, and you’re the best of me. We’ve laughed, cried, and screamed at Sabrina Carpenter concerts before (I’m still not over that, by the way). I know I’ve said it before, but I truly cannot put into words how much you mean to me. Even when I feel like I don’t know what to do and I’m out of all the answers, you are my answer.

Jadyn – The moon to my sun

We spent way too long the other night trying to calculate the amount of time we’ve been friends, and we still haven’t come to a solid conclusion. I don’t remember when we met for the first time, but I remember laying on your trampoline in the sun. I don’t remember the first joke of yours that I found funny but I remember the thousands of times since that I’ve laughed so hard I cried. I know it’s obvious from the way we hang out basically every day, but you’re one of my favorite people in the entire world; I can’t imagine what I used to do without you. Thank you for letting me drive you around, thank you for sitting across from me in Starbucks while we both pretend to get work done (sometimes we actually do!), and thank you for being everything I wish I was. We joke about how different we are from each other—summer and fall, extrovert and introvert, city and beach, sun and moon—but I wouldn’t have it any other way. In the (I think we decided four?) years that I’ve been your friend, my life has gotten immeasurably better. I’m the best version of myself when I’m with you, and you balance out the loudest, most obnoxious parts of me perfectly. I never want to be anything except myself when I’m with you, and I think you know me too well for that anyway. I would sit in Culver’s and sort through quarters forever if it means I get to be friends with you for the rest of my life. We talk about being teenagers, and I tell you that I think sixteen is the perfect age for me, but honestly, I don’t care how old I am as long as I know I can call you and tell you about the girl I met in Target and what happened on my drive to work. I’m forever grateful for everything that you are, and I’ll never be able to get you to understand how much I love you.

To Mia – 

You are, without a doubt, the funniest person I’ve ever met in my entire life. I’ve never spent more than five minutes with you and not laughed for at least half of it. I wouldn’t trade a single second of time with you for anything. I miss you every day that we don’t talk, and I look forward all day to walking from sixth hour to our cars together. I’m obsessed with every story you tell, joke you make, and song you start randomly singing. I’ve never known someone as simultaneously hilarious and compassionate as you somehow always manage to be. You care so deeply about the things and people that you love, and I’m eternally astonished and enormously grateful to be on the receiving end of that love. You’ll never know the true impact you’ve had on my life, and I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you for it. I was so terrified when you left gymnastics that we wouldn’t be as close anymore, but even though I don’t spend over 20 hours a week with you now, you’re still such an important constant in my life, and I couldn’t imagine spending a single day without you. Thank you for lying on the floor with me, watching TikToks in the middle of the night. Thank you for letting Jadyn and me always sleep over at your house and for letting us steal all your food. Thank you for talking to me about anything and everything, no matter how important or unimportant it is. Thank you for meeting up with me in the middle of class in eighth grade and for hugging me every time I want you to now. Thank you for everything you’ve taught me and given me over the past few years. I think I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to show you how much I care about you; thank you for never making me feel anything less than 100% loved when I’m around you. Thank you for letting me exist in the same world of love and laughter as you. Thank you for everything, I love you forever.

To Evalyn – My (sort of) identical twin

Thank god for Mr. Greer’s third-grade class and then again for a perfectly timed youth group trip to Detroit after freshman year because I genuinely could not imagine what my life would look like without you, and I don’t even want to try. You’re my childhood best friend who came back to save my life in high school, and I’ll never be able to thank you enough for returning to me after the seven years we spent apart. That week in Detroit was one of the happiest weeks of my life, and you’re the reason. Laying on bottom bunks across the room from each other and crying, laughing about haircuts and Boo Radley at midnight, a piece of my soul that had been missing for almost a decade settled peacefully back into place like it had never left. Since then, we’ve basically been inseparable, and I couldn’t be happier about it. You’re everything I want to be, Ev, and I look up to you more than you’ll ever know. You’re the night sky in the middle of a UP summer. You’re the top of a mountain, the inside of a waterfall, warm sand, and cool lemonade. You’re the warmth of a handmade blanket, twice as expensive as it should be. You’re laughter on Sunday mornings and smiles in hallways. You’re the parking lot after a ten-mile hike started way too late; seeing you, being around you, brings me more joy than anything else in the world. Thank you for every inside joke we’ve ever had; thank you for letting me stalk your Spotify account when I’m bored. Thank you for matching names and matching outfits. You’re one of the funniest, kindest, most beautiful people inside and out that I’ll ever encounter in my lifetime. Thank you for becoming my best friend for the second time, even after our seven-year break, and for letting me experience what a spectacular, amazing person you are.

To Grace – The other maid of honor

You would never believe how many people I’ve told recently that I miss you. “Yeah, Millie’s coming home for Thanksgiving, but even more importantly, so is her best friend!” has been a common phrase for me over the past two weeks. Thank you for never failing to listen to every single one of my rants about every book I read and movie I watch and for always understanding how much I care about all of them; thank you for ranting with me so often. Thank you for fangirling with me about literally everything; life has been dull and so much less fangirl-y since you left. Thank you for also not reading A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Thanksgiving Break so Millie can be mad at both of us instead of just me. Thank you for putting up with our bickering for a decade. I have so many spectacular memories that you’re a part of—from sleeping for hours on the porch in South Carolina to dozens of nights in D&W that I invited myself to—thank you for always making me feel loved. You are one of the kindest, most welcoming people I know, and I’m so grateful to have become your friend through all the years I’ve known you. The truth is, I’d be honored to split maid of honor duties with you at Millie’s wedding, and you’re way more responsible anyway.

To Maylee – My Jo March

First of all, I’d like to thank you for telling me to watch Francis Ha. I think about that monologue every day. That’s far from the only thing I’m thankful for, though. Thank you for sitting in the hallway with me every fifth hour. Thank you for watching Notting Hill and Julien Baker edits with me. Thank you for being the kindest, most supportive, brightest person I know. I’ve never spent time with you and wished I was anywhere else. You’re a brilliant writer (just like Jo), you give the best advice of anyone I know, and I am forever astounded by the positive glow you bring to everyone you speak to.

To Elle – The reason I pass AP World quizzes

My thanks to you are truly countless every day in Spanish when you don’t (openly) at least get annoyed with me for asking about World. Thank you for telling me about every test and assignment we have. To me, you’re the embodiment of cool, and I hope when I grow up, I can achieve your level of intelligence, humor, and style. Thank you for asking me if I want to sit in the hallway with you and for carrying the whole class in terms of writing interview stories.

To the ADA CC youth group – The only people I tolerate camping for

If you told me three years ago that I actually enjoy going to Church now, I would never have believed you, but thanks to all of you, it’s (shockingly) true. Grace, I have never met anyone who loves being outside more than you (except maybe your dad), and every time we’re together, you inspire me to love the world a little more. Please keep telling me about all of your classes and insane accomplishments that I can only dream of. Lucas, I’m a little more terrified of your screen time every day, but that doesn’t stop me from loving (almost) every Reel you send me. I’ve known you for almost my entire life, and I’m so glad that we’ve become better friends in the past few years. Rowan, every time you miss a trip for band rehearsal, I face an internal debate between disappointment and being impressed. You have personally created at least 25% of our inside jokes, and I miss every time you’re not around to make more, but your dedication and love for music are truly inspiring. Jack, thank you for all the jokes you make and every TikTok you send me (except the ones of people throwing up; PLEASE stop sending me those); whenever I’m with you, I’m somehow always laughing. Dylan, thank you for being the best at building tents and for helping me with math at Wednesday night dinners. I truly think the youth group will be in shambles next year when you’re not there to build us fires. Aiden, thank you for listening to all the music I recommend (sorry about Boygenius) and for reading my favorite books. Thank you for always matching my energy when I’m ranting about my newest hyperfixation. Jake, thank you for letting me third-wheel you and Ev whenever the three of us are together. As much as I like being friends with you, please do not come back for homecoming next year; I just want to have ONE dance with her. Gavin, you’re my favorite Verwolf, just so you know (Evie is a close second). Thank you for waving at me in the hallway every time you see me, even if I had to yell at you about ignoring me first. Thomas, I know I keep telling you to come back to youth group, but it’s true that you should; it was so much fun getting to know you in Detroit. Thank you for sending all the weirdest pictures to me and Evalyn and providing endless entertainment at every pumpkin pie eating contest.

To all of fifth hour – forever my favorite class

It’s weird writing this as a junior because even four months into school, I’m still not used to being an upperclassman in TCT. Through all three years of writing on staff, even when I’m completely stressed over the workload, TCT has been my favorite class, and this year is no different. Even when school sucks, and all I want is to go home, walking into fifth hour makes me smile, and it’s all because of you. My favorite part of the day is hearing about your weekend plans, your Starbucks order, and what you think the most underrated letter of the alphabet is. Thank you for the story ideas and jokes told during the meetings. Thank you for continuing to make TCT such a special thing to be a part of. Also, a special shoutout to Katty for not only being part of fifth hour but also part of every one of my Spanish classes for the past four years. Thank you for suffering with me, and thank you for always knowing the subjunctive better than I do.

To my teachers – who make school a surprisingly tolerable place to be

It’s been a while since I’ve had a teacher that I didn’t like, and whether I keep getting really lucky or FHC is just really amazing at hiring staff, this year is no different. Mrs. Lipke, I’ve never been very good at math, but this year, I keep being surprised by how much of the content I understand and remember. Thank you for trying your hardest every day to engage each and every student in your lessons; I’m sorry our class is so quiet in the morning. Sr. Silvestre, this is the second time I’ve had you as a teacher, and I always seem to like Spanish more when you’re teaching it. Thank you for all of the songs, dances, and charlas. Thank you for caring so much about every student and the lessons that you teach. I never walk into Spanish knowing what is going to happen that day, and your enthusiasm and ideas make the subject even more interesting to learn about. Muchas gracias por todo lo que haces. Mrs. Redman, thank you for putting in so much effort every day to make your lessons different and interesting. Whether we’re listening to a podcast, walking around the hallways, or debating about hotdogs, it is obvious how much you care about making your lessons engaging and interesting for your students. Ms. Webster, thank you for your understanding, your humor, your perfect seating charts, and your ability to make a class I usually hate shockingly fun. I didn’t know what to expect from APES at the beginning of the year, but thanks to you, I am excited every day to walk into your class after lunch. Mr. George, thank you for trying so hard, for getting to know each of your students individually, and for spending so much time editing people’s writing. Talking to you, whether it’s in fifth hour or when I happen to walk past you in the hallway before then, is a highlight of my day. Never stop singing Chappell Roan and making obscure pop culture references. Thank you for complimenting my Noah Kahan Converse every time I wear them. Lastly, Dr. Keller, I’ve always adored English, and though this is easily the hardest English class I’ve ever taken, I love it just as much now. Thank you for pushing me out of my comfort zone in writing and presenting, and thank you for understanding what I’m asking every time I need your help.

To everyone else – this is still dedicated to you

There are too many people in my life to include them all here; there are too many teammates, coaches, acquaintances, family members, and friends that I am so overwhelmed with gratitude for but cannot call out by name because this is already 3,500 words long. The truth is, I’m grateful for everyone in my life, even if I’ve only met you once or if we’ve known each other for years and never spoken. Each year, I’m elated to write my Countless Thanks because I become so much more aware of everything and everyone I have in my life to be grateful for. If I did not write about you, just know that you are no less important to me. Even if you’re not mentioned by name, this year’s Countless Thanks is for you. Trust me, I thought of you while writing it, and I think of you often when I remember just how lucky I am to be surrounded by such a spectacular community of people. I am cursed with the blessing of having too many people to thank for being a part of my life and making me a better person each day. Thank you will never be enough to cover the gratitude I feel for everyone in my life, but I’ll still say it anyway. So, to all the people I care about, whether you’re written by name or not, thank you.