Dear Me,

This year was a lot harder than you had expected and it had much more downs than ups. For starters, you transferred to Archbishop Carroll for your senior year, which was unexpected. You were still pretty bitter about your junior year since it was virtual for basically the entire year, learning became more challenging while virtual, and it felt like your friends had forgotten about you. Besides that, you were really nervous starting your senior year here because you didn’t know anyone or what your teachers would be like. You have always been more introverted, but you ended up making a lot of friends and to your surprise you actually had what you would consider to be your best year of high school. You began to look forward to school because as sad as it sounds, you really missed being in this environment. 

You went beyond your expectations and did really well in your classes which made your family proud. You know how much their approval means to us and you were so happy for what felt like the first time in awhile. Then around Christmas break you got sick with COVID which sucked, but you got better before it was actually Christmas and then we spent the holiday with your boyfriend. Although the hardest part of the year was yet to come because our poppop passed away in January, he was like a father to us and our siblings. You don’t really remember when it was, but you knew that he was sick and that he was in and out of the hospital. You were excited because you thought he was coming back home soon since he seemed like he was getting better. Then one day after school you could just tell by our mom’s face that something was wrong and that night we said our goodbyes on a zoom call. It was hard to see him like that and we were so mad that they wouldn’t let us see him in person. You were so strong for our family and made sure our mom was okay. Since you had been absent so much, you went back to school after the weekend. 

Although it was very difficult, and sometimes it still is, slowly you moved on and pushed yourself to do better in school. You did the best you have ever done academically, you didn’t procrastinate as much, and you began to take care of yourself. You know that we haven’t always had it easy, but I’m so proud of you for making it this far. You’re going to graduate high school soon and we used to think that we wouldn’t make it that far, now you have countless scholarship offers and found your dream school. You’re going to major in criminal justice, then attend law school, and then you’re going to help people. You know that I’m bad at ending things like this, but I also know that you understand what I’m trying to say. I’m so proud of you, keep taking care of yourself, and working hard. You’re going to do great things one day and one day you’ll read over this again and say, “we made it.”

Sincerely, 

Phoebe Stuski-Vandermeer, AKA you from senior year, 2022.