52 Mondays = 1 Year

Dear Girls of the Facets of Us Blog (circa 2022),

Hello, girls. It's Monday. Monday, March 5, 2012, to be precise, the last Monday in our little project.

It's really strange to me that this half-thought-out idea that I had last January, a passing, "Oh, that might be fun," kind of thought has now come to completion. We didn't achieve fame. We didn't gain more than 20 followers. We didn't irrevocably change the world. But we got to know each other a little bit better. And we documented our lives for an entire year.

Girls of Facets of Us in 2022, it is my hope that when you come back to read this letter, you have trouble finding it. It is my hope that it isn't the first post waiting for you on this blog, because it is my hope that this blog will still see us every once and a while. It is my hope that we occasionally find our way back here, to reread and remember and maybe post a JAB here and there about life in general and where we are.

Cassie - I have no idea where 2022 will find you. I hope you're married to Chase by now. I hope you have a Masters degree. I hope you're not still in Bowling Green. I hope you're doing what you love and I hope that you're happy. Remember that letter we wrote when we were 11? I remember occasionally thinking about it in the ten years that followed and trying to remember what I'd written to myself, what gems I'd asked about, what insights I'd shared. And then, when I finally got it, and it came as such a wonderful surprise because I'd managed to forget, I remember being astounded at what had changed, and what had been important to me back then. I wonder if you're reading this now, at age 33, and thinking the same things about me. I am scared of leaving Bowling Green. I am scared of applying for grad school. I am scared that everything I want to accomplish in my life will fall flat, and I hope reading those fears and worries makes you shake your head as much as reading about 11-year-old Cassie's inability to write out Michael's name did when we were 21. (Forgive the grammar of that sentence, please. Verb tense gets so confusing in these things)

Alexandra - I'm sorry we lost you in the last month or so. I think you are the member of this group least similar to myself in many ways, and yet, I also valued your insights. I always felt that you had a lot to share with me, and a lot to share with anyone willing to sit down and listen. I hope you are still happily married. I hope you have achieved Canadian citizenship. I hope you have found success as a writer. I'm glad you agreed to join this project (even if you did throw off the run of C-names we had going on!), and I hope you come back to read it every so often.

Carlyn - I've told this to Meghan, but it applies to you as well: I've spent so much of my life on the fringes of social groups that it's always a little astounding to me when the people I want to be friends with want to be friends with me, too. You were larger than life when I first met you, and a little intimidating, but you knew from John Green and Nerdfighters, and so I asked you to join this project, and I'm so glad I did. You and I better still be in regular contact! After all, we're in a trilationship, you and I and Meghan. Outside of the people related to me, I've never had a friendship that lasted more than ten years, mostly because I've never had a friendship that had the opportunity to, but this had better be one that does. My hopes for you? That you are a wildly successful counselor who is steadily and surely changing the world. That you and Meghan are enjoying a wonderful, crazy, batshit insane life together. That you and Desmond the rental car of awesome have been reunited (though hopefully without Magellan, because let's be real. No one likes him). That you still call me Miss Monday even though this blog project came to a close a decade ago.

Casey - I'm sorry we lost you so early on. I hope, every once in a while, you remember us with fondness, and that the few months you spent here were worth it. I hope that life hasn't overwhelmed you too badly. I hope that, in giving up the blog, you were able to breathe a little easier and stress a little less. I hope you know there are no hard feelings. I'm glad you were here the weeks that you were. I enjoyed even the small chance to get to know you better.

Christina - You were the first person I approached when I thought about actually trying to make this a real thing. I remember thinking that your energy and enthusiasm would be catching, and I was certainly right! I hope you've discovered your passion in life. I hope you've continued to travel the world and make amazing memories and see amazing things. I'm glad you brought friends here that read and commented every so often to remind us that we were not entirely alone here on this blog. I'm glad you stuck through to the end. I have the highest hopes that you will return here every so often to leave an update on your life as it unfolds, and that you will read the JABs of anyone else who does likewise. Thanks for thinking my crazy idea was worth giving a shot. In a lot of ways, you're the reason this actually happened.

Girls, it's been a pleasure and a privilege. It is my sincerest hope that we do return in ten years and reread these posts, to remind us of who we were in 2011-2012. Assuming, of course, that the world doesn't end in nine months, in which case, this was all a little pointless, wasn't it? :) Thanks for being a facet. Thanks for saying yes a year ago. Thanks for sharing a piece of your life with the rest of us.

Sincerely,
Miss Monday