Thank you, All Time Low (via Neon Tommy)

I know we’ve been friends since childhood and sometimes I feel like I don’t appreciate you enough. You’ve helped me through thick and thin, and you always seem to know what to say. You are beautiful in all your different forms and genres, and what better day to give thanks for everything you’ve done for me than on Thanksgiving? 

I’d like to think that our friendship started in elementary school when my kindergarten class would learn nifty little songs in order to remember basic knowledge. Without you, I wouldn’t have learned the alphabet, the days of the week, or the months of the year as easily as I did. It seems like such a small detail, but it’s the little occurrences like that where you show up and help me out, even as a youngling. 

Next, thank you to the alternative rock phase I had in middle school while everyone else was listening to the newest Kesha song or Lady Gaga’s new album. Despite unjustified ridicule from immature classmates insulting my taste in music just because I wasn’t listening to what everyone else was listening to, it taught me that that was okay. Music touches people in different ways, and without that experimental phase I wouldn’t be as open-minded as I am today; not only to exploring different genres of music but also being respectful to other’s tastes in music.

Thank you to classical music and those twelve long years of classical piano lessons. As much as I dreaded practicing and sitting on that bench for hours on end, those lessons served a much greater purpose that I wouldn’t learn until later: it taught me patience and and an appreciation for classical music. It takes a certain kind of passion to play classical music that I couldn’t quite understand until now, and while others may perceive classical music as boring, when I listen to classical music, I hear passion and emotion. 

And now, on Thanksgiving Day as I lay bedridden with a terrible fever with the unfortunate burden of missing Thanksgiving dinner, I’d like to thank you, music, and specifically my floormate’s Spotify playlist accurately titled ":)" for allowing me to escape these four walls that I have been forced to stare at for the past 24 hours. And as Turkey Day comes to a close, I look forward to your annual tradition of filling homes with joy and cheer as Christmas music begins to play everywhere. 

So thank you music for everything you do because my life wouldn’t be the same without you around to bring me happiness. 

Your biggest fan, 

Vanessa

Reach Contributor Vanessa Le here.