So since Thanksgiving isn't all about eating yummy yummy food and turkey (though that part's important too), I feel like taking this opportunity to thank some of the people that I perhaps have neglected to show my appreciation for. A bit cheesy, maybe, and even though most people don't really check xanga that much anymore, I feel like it's a good place to post all of this.

To all of my friends: Really, you guys have no idea how much you mean to me. I know that there have been times over the last few months when I seemed really distant, abrupt, and irritable, as if I just wanted to be left alone. I really didn't mean to though....it was just a pretty difficult time for me. But even though there were moments when I acted like a complete jerk, you all managed to make me laugh so hard that I could barely catch my breath, and had the patience to listen to my endless ranting about the most pointless things. There was always a nice, warm shoulder for me to cry and rest my cheek on, and a cheesy but hilarious joke to send me into peals of laughter. So I just want to thank you all for being so supportive and sympathetic, being there to list my spirits when they seriously needed a good, hard push, and sticking by my side. Love you all.

To Stephan: Despite what you may think, I don't have an ounce of hate or blame for you. I guess what it really was was plain, simple bitterness at first. This may seem like a funny analogy, but I rather felt like Woody from Toy Story when the Andy discarded him on the shelf when he found a rip in him. I remember feeling absolutely furious, thinking of how unfair it was of Andy to do that to Woody. Woody had been his favorite toy, and he lavished all of his love upon him. But when he discovered the rip in Woody's arm and the stuffing seeping out, he suddenly decided that he really wasn't worth his time anymore. Woody was plopped on the shelf and left there to collect dust, unloved, broken, and forgotten. But that's all part of the past, I suppose. During these past two years, you led me into the world of love that had seemed so elusive and mysterious before. There were moments when I had never felt happier or safer, and I found a place where I seemed to truly belong. During these past few months, when my world seemed to completely collapse and fall apart, I felt a new kind of raw sadness and pain that seemed to tear me apart, little by little. But I really think that did me some good, and I've changed quite a bit in a few months time. I'm a sadder and older person now, perhaps, but I'm also more mature and a bit less naive than before. Many of my illusions of the world have been shattered, and though a large portion of my happiness was probably once due to them, I've learned many lessons that will definitely do me some good later on in life. Maybe I'm still not yet a woman, but because of you, I'm pretty damn close. And for that, I thank you.

- Sara