Thank you Burlington, with all my Hart

Dear Burlington,

Thank you for giving me a life half in Bristol and half in Burlington.

Thank you for showing me the small town lifestyle.

Thank you for giving me the best neighborhood in the entire town.

Thank you for making me appreciate silence, privacy, space, and darkness (considering we don’t have street lights).

Thank you for finally getting a sidewalk even though it leads to absolutely nowhere.

Thank you for making it normal to see bears, cows, deer, and horses on any given day.

Thank you for showing me over and over again what it is like to see an entire town come together in the wake of a tragedy.

Thank you for being a town with no shopping centers or grocery stores or car dealerships.

Thank you for giving me a high school experience I never thought I would have as the “new girl” (even though everyone thought I was new sophomore year not freshman year *eye roll*).

Thank you for shaping me into the person I am today.

Thanks for all the crazy creepy abandon spots that have kept me curious and fascinated all these years.

Thank you for being so stunningly beautiful during all four seasons.

Thank you for all my nicknames (Calz, Calzie, Calzone, Callous, Calamander, Jersey, Philly, Colorado, etc.).

Thank you for introducing me to some of the most incredible people on this planet.

Thank you for having a Main Street that is the furthest thing from “main.”

Thank you for giving me the best bedroom(s) a teenage girl could ask for.

Thank you for providing so much natural beauty, from Sessions to the Farmington River to the Falls.

Thank you for sharing your version of Friday night lights (aka Danger Zone).

Thank you for being a town that no one in Connecticut has ever heard of.

Thank you for your cute little neighbor Harwinton who is even smaller and even more unheard of.

Thank you for all your quirky street names like Black Walnut, Johnnycake Mountain, Cranberry, Blueberry, Buttercup, Cricket, Wildcat, Misty Meadow, etc.

Thank you for the Center.

Thank you for the memories.

Thank you for the heartbreaks.

Thank you for the friendships.

Thank you for helping me fall in love with Connecticut in ways I never thought I ever would.

I genuinely love this little town. I love how it makes me feel when I drive through the back roads. I love how it makes me feel when I am driving down Route 4 towards Mills from the Center. I love how it makes me feel when I’m up on Johnnycake admiring the beautiful view from Hill Top. I love how it made me feel when I came home during college breaks. I love every feeling this little town has ever made me feel.

I have always said that I “grew up in Jersey” but that is no longer true; I grew up here, too. I am not the same person I was when I said “wooder” and had no idea what fried dough was. From now until forever, Burlington will be just as much of my home as the first town I grew up in.

I cannot imagine spending the last (almost) nine years of my life anywhere else but in Burlington.

Thank you for everything.

Love,

23 year old me who appreciates this middle-of-nowhere town more than 14 year old me ever thought was possible