TCT’s The Countless Thanks 2019: Abby Wright
Abigail Cool and Amelia Pointer — for our hot chocolate talks
My golden gals. There’s just something about you two.
We all are so different, yet our contrasting personalities somehow blend so well when we’re together, whether that be in our booth at Leo’s, on the field during too hot or too rainy practices, or on the cold floor of the crappy dorms at WMU eating way too many Oreos way too late at night.
I love you guys, and I love how we’re always here for each other.
Amelia, your chaotically logical approach to life and every problem I have is really something else—you really are something else. We have freshman year band camp to thank for bonding us in a way that only a week away from home in every element—extreme weather, extreme pain, and extreme exhaustion—can. We really had each other’s backs that week, we have ever since, and I am so, so happy that you have remained by my side, even when you weren’t my shadow anymore.
Abigail, you’re my constant. We are the definition of polar opposites, but we just make it work, and we have for such a long time. You make life so, so spunky and spontaneous and silly; nothing is boring if I have you by my side. I truly do not know what I would do without you—you are my sunshine on every rainy day and my best friend. Thank you for everything, Gail. Please never stop dancing to Lorde with me at 3 am.
Cole Kaminski — for sneaking up on me
Cole, you barely knew my name two months ago, and yet a couple of weeks ago—after a not so great night—you offered to pick me up and bring me to your party, which sounded way more fun than the night I was having.
You are way too kind to someone you really just met, but that’s the very thing I love about you: your refreshing kindness and open heart. I don’t see you very often, but whenever I do, our little heart to hearts uplift me and just make me smile.
I’m thankful for the way the universe leads me to people like you. Thank you for calling, thank you for waving in the halls, and thank you for sneaking up on me in times where I need your warmth the most.
Ayesha Jeddy — for just being you, quietly and loudly you
Ayesha. You are just too good for this cruel world.
Before I really got to know you, I saw you as a well-dressed and intelligent, yet quiet, girl whose hair always looked so good. After spending lunch and other classes with you for the past year, I’ve really gotten to know you for all the wonderful things you are, which are so much more than being fashionable and intelligent, and I’m so happy that you’re in my life, Ayesha. You are genuinely hilarious; the stories you tell at lunch are too good, often leaving me pounding the table while silently screaming.
Thank you for being the world’s best mood-lifter and the world’s kindest soul. My life is brighter because you are in it, Ayesha, and I thank you for that and for so much more.
Please never stop telling customers to have a nice weekend on a Wednesday.
Ken George — for being bald
I miss you. Going from seeing you practically all day every day last year to maybe four seconds a day this year has been a rough transition, but in the rare moments where we do get to sit down and chat, it’s like nothing has changed.
Even though you leave me on Delivered and nag on me for using too many em-dashes, I appreciate you and everything you’ve done—minuscule or grand—for me the past three years.
I think the grandest thing you’ve done for me—well, continually do for me—is believe in me. Ever since freshman year, you’ve shown that I have something to offer: words, my voice, talent. Your belief in me has never faded, and that is the greatest gift of all. I don’t know how I got here as an editor, a junior, a functioning human being … but I think your unwavering belief in me has a little something to do with it.
Thank you for leading me to my voice, for believing in me, for trusting me, for all the snacks and water, for the kind words on my rubrics, for our special “handshake,” and for being bald. You are life-changing, George. Thank you for changing mine.