I am almost fully convinced, after completing my first year of my undergraduate career, I have undergone way more changes and transformations than I ever could have anticipated. With changes in my environment, moving from the outskirts of Ann Arbor, MI to the third largest city in the country, Chicago, along with changes in my perspective on what I thought were concrete beliefs, there were times where I felt as I was drowning in an inevitable whirlwind of change.

But constants. Constants are what, I like to believe, keep people sane. Whether it be knowing that your favorite show will be premiering a new episode every Tuesday night or that you will come home to your dog greeting you at the door every single night when you enter your house, constants are what keep people anchored and okay and in an illusion of certainty in the beautiful, yet terrifying quality of life that is unpredictable.

My freshman year of college was far from being remotely predictable as I changed my major twice, joined a sports team that I have never knew existed, created wonderful friendships with such wonderful people from all over the country, explored a gigantic city on my own, solidified and discovered my own beliefs and morals, and experienced a whole new life. But constants. Constants from my little community nestled between Ann Arbor and Detroit, those are the people who kept me, me. And those people are my best friends. I cannot say enough thank you's to my friends from home for being constants in a year filled with so much change. Everyone needs constants in their lives, and to my friends from home, thank you for being the best constants I could have ever asked for.

Childhood and hometown friendships are so incredibly important, and I know after being separated from those friends by hundreds of miles for the first time in my life, that maintaining those friendships takes an enormous amount of effort and commitment. My friends and I even had a group chat where every Sunday night we shared our "highs" and "lows" from that week. Something so minor, but meant so much to me. Sunday nights I could constantly count on hearing about my best friends' weeks and stop and pause and take a break from my current new reality to talk with the people who have been my people since elementary and middle school.

I found myself to so easily getting lost in my new life, in a new city, with brand new friends that there would be days where I wouldn't speak to the friends I would communicate every middle school school lunch and every class period with in high school. But there would be days in my new life in a new city with my brand new friends where things weren't okay and my heart physically ached missing the drives my best friend and I would make to the gym together every night and the sleepovers we would have in my basement.

My friends that I met my freshman year of college are some of the best people in my life who I have grown to love in such a short amount of time, but my friends from home are different kind of special. There were times where I would find it so incredibly refreshing to have a conversation with someone who just "got me" without having to explain myself. My friends from home know my family. My friends from home know all of my "firsts." My friends from home know my pet peeves. My friends from home know my strengths and my weaknesses. My friends from home know my past because they were my past. My friends from home understand the unexplained me.

So to my best friends from home, thank you. Thank you so much for texting in our group chat to update me on your exciting lives. Thank you so much for always answering my calls when I called just to talk. Thank you so much for exemplifying such amazing friendship. Thank you so much for continuing our friendship even though we are hundreds of miles away. And most of all, thank you so much for being constants in my year of change and unpredictability. You guys are so important and always will be.