Starting off with what first comes to mind, I am incredibly thankful for my family. The amount that they have done for me and the amount of love I feel for them is absolutely immeasurable. With that being said, I could write for days about how my mom's patience, love, and efficiency amazes me, my father's strength and resilience inspires me, my sibling's and cousin's experiences in growing up teach me, and how my grandparent's, aunt's and uncle's support and love means the world to me. Each one of those listed people or groups of people would take articles of their own to explain, so instead I will attempt to sum it up here. Just in 2016, my family has been responsible, or at least in part responsible, for every great thing that has happened. Seeing Hamilton and getting to walk on that stage was them, my summer days at the beach were them, my days at Pathways were them, my experiences at Gateway to the Arts were them, the joy I have had in days spent at home have been them. So many of the greatest days of my life are because of them. I cannot thank them enough, and as this year comes to a close I appreciate all that they have done for me more than ever.

Secondly, I am thankful for my friends. There are so many wonderful people that I have the pleasure of knowing as of right now, so many of which probably have no idea just how much I care about them. For all of the actions you take that seem small to you, I can promise you they are important to me. So thank you for them. There are, within the friends category, a group of people I owe a particularly large thank you to. To those people, thank you for withstanding the ups and downs of the past year. Thank you for brightening my days and giving me the best moments of my life. Thank you for all the support you've given and for offering me the opportunity to be a part of your lives. Just thank you. I love you more than I could ever say.

Lastly, I am thankful for the amount of knowledge I have been gaining in this past year about myself and the world I want to grow old to see. I am most certainty not ending this year with every question answered. In fact, it is quite possible I am ending this year with more questions than I started with. But I will stay curious, I will keep learning and discovering and finding who I am and what this world has in store for me. I will keep listening, writing, thinking, and changing. I will keep cherishing the people I love and trying to be a person that is at least somewhat deserving of them. I will be a musician, a student, a friend, a daughter, a sister, and whatever else comes along the way. And for that I am thankful.

Welcome, and bring it on 2017!