Love Letter: March 25, 2024

Hello, and welcome to the new addition of Bella’s Blogs! About a month ago, I was robbed at knife point on my walk home and had my phone stolen. The people who took my phone were able to access almost all of my personal information, compromising both my personal and financial accounts. While I was unharmed, the last month has been spent recovering what I can and working through the trauma of these events. The e-mail associated with Bella’s Blogs was one of the things that I was unable to recover, and has since led to the revamp of my site. As always, I am happy you are here and feel at ease knowing I still have this as my outlet to discern and share all of my journeys with those who follow along.

After my incident, I spent a lot of time trying to write my narrative about what happened. I struggled to put my story into words, doing my best to share my vulnerability. But, as I sit on my flight back to London from a beautiful weekend in Chicago with my best friends, I reflected on a different perspective. What happened on February 22nd was horrible, but I never was able to feel sorry for myself or angry with the people who did this to me. Instead, I felt love. Love from my support systems both back home and in London. And also love for the world that we live in, even when it feels especially scary and confusing. It’s heartbreaking that we live in a world where bad things happen to good people and power and conflict are accompanied by fear and hate.

I am a girl who loves to wear her heart on her sleeve, telling the people I love that I love them and encouraging others to do the same. That’s what this blog is all about. Maybe some of my bleeding heart is a result of my astrological nature of being a Cancer or my secure attachment style thanks to my awesome parents, but all jokes aside I wouldn’t be the person I am without the dozens of people in my life who I admire, learn from, and lean on in tough times. While each person is special to me in their own ways and ones who I should probably tell more often how much they mean to me, this blog is in special tribute to my college friends, Handshake.

I’ve always known my friends from Creighton were special and what our 20+ friend group had was rare. Each friend unique in their own ways, all of us having different relationships to one another. However, it wasn’t until two years ago to this day where all of our lives were changed forever. On March 25, 2022, about six weeks before graduation, we lost our friend Mary Kate in an accident. I have journaled about this before and given thanks to Mary Kate for being the light that has guided us for the last 730+ days. Mary Kate is, (among a million other wonderful things), the epitome of friendship. She is the person that brought joy and laughter to every room she walked in, and continues to show herself to the world in the most dazzling ways. We miss her so much and never a miss a chance to celebrate her life the way she did day in and day out.

While I can probably speak for many of my friends when I say that we owe so much to MK and her family, I give thanks to Mary Kate for leaving the everlasting impression on me that life is way too short, to always seize the day, laugh a little more, and to give grace to those around you. It is the lessons of Mary Kate that pushed me to make my move to London and continue to explore and enjoy the world around me. Thank you MK for being you and for continuing to shine within all of us.

Being so far from home has been the toughest transition yet. But, thanks to social media and our iconic group chat, I get to see all of the wonderful accomplishments that my friends have achieved in these last two years. While I am envious that most of them get to see each other everyday, I feel blessed that I get to watch from afar. You have all grown into brilliant human beings, doing what you love and taking care of one another in ways you may not even realize. You are a constant reminder that care and value are among some of the most important characteristics of friendship. As friends, we teach each other that generosity and kindness anchor us to sanity in times of grief and loss. That friendship is the kind of thing that reminds you of the love that you are not only capable of giving and receiving, but that you embody. Thank you for making me laugh until I cry and for cheering me on all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. And while I wish so deeply that MK could be here with us, I know she, like me, is so fucking proud.

I feel very sad leaving everyone behind this weekend, but know in my heart that these relationships will only continue to blossom. There is nobody else I would rather share in the joy of Jays win and pain of a brutal hangover the following day with. Let’s keep taking over bars, dancing on party buses, and singing karaoke with bartenders who are professional harmonica/kazoo players. Thank you for loving me and for letting me constantly share my love letters with you. Cheers to continuing to live life like Mary Kate and honoring her in every way, big and small.