As I approach the end of an important chapter of my life, I realize I have many people (and pets) to thank for helping me get there. College was an experience—to say the least. Full of incredible ups and downs, CofC proved to be both my happy place and a total bitch. (She was more of a bitch at times… Still love her, though.) I didn’t make it to the finish line on my own. I have these people to thank:

1. My mom

Everything I learned, I learned from you. Thank you for being a phone call away. You always picked up when I walked to class and needed a person to chat with. Thank you for teaching me how to separate colors from whites. Thank you for sharing all your cooking secrets with me (even though I rarely cooked). Thank you for depositing $30 into my bank account just because you thought I needed it. Thank you for believing in me, for supplying me with advice that I’ll pass on to my own children, for missing me and for loving me unconditionally. You were my biggest supporter, and I know you'll continue to be for the rest of my life. I hope I made you proud.

2. My dad

Everything I didn’t learn from Mom, I learned from you. Thank you for helping me with my math homework when I was little. (It didn't prepare me for the math homework I had in college, but I always thought back to the times we would sit at the kitchen table. I would cry because I would get so frustrated, and you would never let me give up. Math didn’t get any easier, but giving up happened less.) Thank you for being so hard on me and pushing me to my limits. When I thought I couldn’t, you assured me I could. Thank you for driving me back and forth from school to home to move me in and out at the end of every year. Thank you for handling all my financial needs (you're the numbers person—not me). Thank you for letting me leave the nest. I’ll always need your assistance, even when I’m too stubborn to admit it. Thank you for knowing everything, ya know-it-all. It kinda saved me.

3. My best friends

Thank you for accepting me, flaws and all. Thank you for teaching me how to have fun and “let loose” every once in a while. Thank you for being a shoulder to cry on after my first heartbreak (and for being there to hear about the guy who put it back together). I owe it all to you. Thank you for coffee dates, for exploring the city with me, for acting goofy when no one else was watching. I needed support, and you all were there to give me that. Thank you for making college fun. I’m already so excited to see where life takes you all, and I’m proud to have shared these past four years with each of you.

4. My siblings

Thank you for being complete dorks. You guys are the ultimate secret keepers and professionals at screenshotting the most embarrassing Snapchats of me. Thank you for giving me the world’s most adorable nephew to love and show off to all my friends. Thank you for protecting me from f***boys and for promising to be there when I couldn’t rely on anyone else. You guys have been here since the beginning—you da real MVPs.

5. My boyfriend

I’ll keep this one short and sweet—thank you for being you and for making me happy.

6. My pets

Honestly, my pets should be number one. (But my mom would’ve been jealous, so…) Thank you guys for being so damn cute. Mom and Dad send me pictures of y’all, and those pictures brighten my day. Thank you for greeting me with wagging tails and sloppy kisses when I visit home. Thank you for cuddling with me at 2 A.M. even though I’m highly allergic to your. Thank you for being loveable little lovebugs. I can't wait to see you and hug the hell out of you, my little fur babies.

7. My co-workers

I don’t know how I would’ve made it through long nights without you guys. You made work fun and nights more fun. I spent half of my time with you ladies, and every second was enjoyable (even if we were hangry most of the time). Thank you for covering my shifts when I was sick. Thank you for kitchen dance parties. I wouldn’t want to sell cupcakes with any other cuties.

8. My professors

I wouldn’t be days away from graduating if it weren’t for all of you. You challenged me for a reason. Work wasn’t meant to be easy, and as much as I wished I had been assigned busy work, I know why you didn’t assign it. While some assignments seemed ridiculous, others (papers mainly) opened my eyes to a world of my potential. Thank you for helping me succeed. Thank you for being patient with me. You all impacted me in special ways, and I owe most of my success to y'all. If you didn’t frustrate me, did you even teach me anything?

No matter how smart people tell me I am (my mom), I can’t take all the credit for making it through these past four years. I have many people to thank, and to thank them all individually would take me years. For now, I leave you with this open-ended thank you.