Thank you Lauren

For teaching me how to love as deeply as my 18 year-old heart possibly could.
For helping me (indirectly) to learn to apply the Atonement.
For showing me how to have tons of fun.
For so many great times together, laughing.
For teaching me chivalry.
For helping me to be my best self.
For encouraging me (because of the person that you were) to think my most noble thoughts.
For encouraging me to serve a mission.
For teaching me sympathy.
For making me dig deep and turn to the Lord.
For opening up opportunities to be a better missionary.
For opening up opportunities to make friendships that I wouldn’t have made if we were still together.
For friendships made while we were together that I wouldn’t have made if we weren’t together.
Lauren, thanks for 14 great months. I cherish memories with you. They are close to my (broken) heart. I’m very sad that something so great and wonderful had to come to such a painful, immature, and bitter end. I’m so sad about the way you have handled the situation. I know you probably won’t read this, but I still wanted to thank you. I miss so many of the good things that we had together, but I have now realized that I deserve much better than the way you have treated me in the last month.
I deserve someone who cares enough to not want to hurt me.
I deserve someone who is nice to people, not just their significant other.
I deserve someone who loves me for me.
Someday, I’m going to find someone like that. You, Lauren, have helped me move closer to that person. In the end, after some serious maturation on your part, I think we could be great friends again, and maybe even date. But for now, I hope that you can realize your mistakes, think about someone besides yourself, learn your lessons, and be happy and successful in whatever you choose to pursue.
Now, other people need to be thanked.

Thank you Nate, for spending this week with me in Provo so that I didn’t have to sit with nothing but (potentially negative) thoughts for company.
Thank you Jesse, for your music that truly touches me, for caring about me, and for making your love for me apparent in your subtle way.
Thank you Mom, for letting me cry on your shoulder, being the absolute best mom, and for having sympathy in the most incredible, incomparable way.
Thank you Mom, Dad, Elizabeth, Nate, and Matt for so freely forgiving me and loving me fully and appreciating everything from my weird sense of humor to my specialty falsetto riffs in the living room (I guess those are the same thing).
Thank you Annie, for being the absolute best friend anyone could ever ask for. For listening to me, advising me, giving straight up sympathy, and assuring me that I deserve better treatment than I have received.
Thank you Becca and Jessy for putting up with me being in your apartment more than my own and also being wonderful friends to me.
Thank you to Adam for being my brother and an awesome roommate. You will make an amazing missionary.
Thank you Jessica, Elizabeth, and the rest of 129 for being awesome FHE sisters and letting me complain to you and caring.
I know there is more, but I think that covers the majority of my earthly helpers.

Thank you all. I love you and am so grateful to you all for caring about me and loving me. Also, thanks for dealing with the endless run-on sentences and ridiculous number of ands in this post.