I don’t understand sometimes. How the people we know become people we knew. How the people we are changes to people we were. And how the memories we hold so dear fade before we even know it. I hope to be the same girl. To in five years, be eating Todai bento boxes in the mall with Rachel after a night of shopping. To be texting Leslie constantly until I can see her for our weekly catch up; after one day of not seeing each other we’re already about to burst. I need weekly gym sessions with Sarah, analyzing every little thing about life. I thrive on L&A Monday’s, zumba-ing next to the girl who knows me better than I know myself. I want to still be eating Noodles and Company weekly… to spend Monday nights curled up in a ball watching The Bachelor… to rush out on Friday afternoon to obtain In Touch, devouring the latest celebrity news and challenging cross-word puzzle I have never finished. I won’t let another lady touch my eyebrows if not from Crystal Nails. No way I can survive without plopping down at Saxby’s on Sunday mornings homework on the table, scone and chai tea latte in each hand. I don’t want to finish these memories.

I will never give up walking at the canal with Vicky, working up an appetite for a heaping stack of chocolate chip pancakes. I won’t let go of Sunday nights at Tina’s with the girls, cracking up and going completely off topic from the lesson, but still feeling God’s presence from just being together. Here’s to the girls night ins with Chrissy, drooling over Ryan Gosling for hours at a time. It won’t be the same without Beach Babes- every summer for as long as I remember, the waves enveloping my shivering body, so alive and in the presence of my best friends. I can’t leave behind camping out with Joshlyn, our annual get-togethers and reflecting on the years we spent writing down our innermost thoughts.

I’ll miss the little things; driving Ryan to school, even on the days in which I was called a tool for the majority of it. I’ll even miss my dad scolding himself under his breath, ‘STOP WHISTLING’ after breaking out in a tune that left my stomach in an ulcer. And most of all, I’ll miss jumping up and propelling myself into my mom’s arms after a long day. The look on our faces during and after that is priceless. I’ll miss being called ‘muffin’ too. I don’t know if I’ll ever be a Princess in anyone else’s mind. Our daily walks have kept me sane throughout my high school life.

What w ill I do without my friends, my family, my room, my dear Topanga, the restaurants, the hangouts, Guinea and Braddock Road in which I know like the back of my hand? This is all I know. This has been all I’ve ever known. When something amazing happens, I’ll want to celebrate at Josie’s. When life gets stressful, I need a stack of melted chocolate chip pancakes from First Watch. And when I’m depressed, I like knowing that my support system is all in a 10 minute vicinity away, whether on Bedivere, Stark, Flintridge, Toll House, or Georgian. My home is here. The neighborhood I’ve always viewed as perfect, neighbors waving and everyone friendly. No matter where I end up in life, I know I will come home and make that turn into the cul-de-sac and feel that same sense of peace wash over me. I am back and I am home. Here is what I will always know.