A love letter to three lovely ladies;

Dear Miss Sandy, Darlene, and Filomena,

Thank you for being surrogate mothers to nervous college students of all ages. Thank you for looking out for us, when we were looking down, too worried to look ahead. Thank you for the pep talks, the kind words, and the love that you’ve shown all of us throughout our time at Bryn Mawr. We appreciate your work as housekeepers, but more importantly, we appreciate the emotional work that you’ve put into learning about each of us as individuals, and trying your best to reach out to us.

To Miss Sandy- Thank you for rooting for freshman year me! Thank you for being the first adult I connected with on this campus, and also offering hugs and encouragement. Thank you for giving me your special cough drops when I was sick, and going out of your way to check in on me when I was feeling down. Thank you for reminding me why it’s so important to have a college education, and for telling me to stick to it.

To Darlene- Thank you for the tough love and pep talks. Thank you for telling me to pull myself up and keep going. Thank you for being a constant presence even when you yourself weren’t feeling so well. Your stories got me though long days, and your jokes got me though long nights. Thank you for trying especially hard to make connections with people that you felt needed support.

To Filomena- Thank you for being a strong, solid, and compassionate woman. Thank you for doing little things to show me that you care, and that you are thinking about me. Thanks for the advice you give to me, and the conversations that we have. Thank you for your fresh vegetables- probably the freshest veggies I have eaten in years. Thanks for radiating love to everyone you meet.

I feel pretty confident that I can speak on behalf of quite a bit of students when I say thank you, and we love you. Even though our time at Bryn Mawr is relatively short, your presence within it has made us value our experiences here even more. We will miss you, but we will think about your kindness always, and hopefully, we will let that influence the way that we interact within the world. As you’ve reminded us time and time again, graduation isn’t a good bye, but rather a see you later.

Love always,

Angela