With Love


This is part love letter, part scrapbook, part day in the life. It's about the people that fill up these days and the places that stand witness to these moments. This is me, saying thank you, in the only way I know how. With pictures and with words. With laughter and with smiles. This is me showing you Hiram through my eyes. Through rose colored glasses and blue tinted shades. From my 2nd floor window and my favorite table in the dining hall. From late nights, to early mornings, to days filled to the brim with everything I love. It's not always smiles, to be sure, but I am trying my hardest not to dwell on the bad. I don't want to leave here with a head full of unhappy memories.



I tend to romanticize places, no more than when I am about to leave them. Hiram has had a huge impact on my life, and leaving has only helped me realize how much I care about this place. And it’s not just the buildings, though there are some memories tied to those, it’s the people I've met here and how much they care—about the world, about each other, about me, about everything.



I’ve gotten comfortable here, in a way that I haven’t felt in a long time. I've found a place I feel safe and loved and cared for, and where I feel like I can do the things I want to do and be the person I want to be. I’ve found a sense of freedom and trust and community.  




At Hiram I've found some really great people. And I’m sad to leave them, but hopeful that the relationships I've found here will last. Through emails or letters, facebook chats or skype calls, visits or some cool future hologram phone that I am sure will eventually exist. I won’t forget the late night sing alongs and the meals where we spent hours and hours just talking and laughing until the dining hall kicked us out. I won’t forget the board games and the movie nights and yelling at bad movies and spending time at the playground instead of on homework. I’m trying not to forget all the little things that make up the bigger picture.


But I guess it’s time for a new adventure. Time to learn new things and meet new people and go new places. Find new nooks where I can sit and see the stars. Find new friends who want to do silly things. Watch more people react to hearing me laugh for the first time. I’m learning that ‘new’ is just another way of saying ‘more’. That new doesn't replace old—it just adds to it.


This isn't the first thing I've written about my time at Hiram, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I tend to get nostalgic. But let me just say thanks. It’s been fun. 



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