Dear 2016

At the beginning of each new year, I like to write an ode to the year just gone past, in memory of the good times, the bad times and the times which made me especially grateful. This year is no exception, so I invite you to have a peek into what I got up to in the year that probably changed my life more so than others ever have.


Dear 2016,


Dear January, the realisation of mocks, the Leaving Cert and life itself hit me like a flood that i wasnt expecting. I was a frequent Tinder user back then, spending nights talking to weird but strangely extremely attractive lads. Dear February, thank you for the stress. Thank you for making me flip out when I got a card on Valentine's Day, something that hadnt happened to me in six years. Dear March, thank you for the ultimate Paddy's Day [read: day drinking]. Dear single life, it was great to have you, but I'm glad you're gone.

Dear April, thank you for letting me spend it with someone I wouldn't have survived 2016 without. Study breaks meant going to see my boyfriend.

Dear May, thank you for turning me 18, for my secondary school graduation. My 18th birthday saw me get very excited over a trip to Ibiza in the summer and Brown Thomas vouchers. Dear secondary school, I'm very, very happy to be done with you. Not only did you leave me with experiences and points that were left to be desired, my favourite year was my sixth year, which says something. Dear lockers, sweaty hallways and anxious classrooms- I outgrew you a long time ago.


Dear June, you brought the Leaving Cert. Dear anxiety, you didn't peep. I left my secondary school mid-June knowing I had gotten my points, knowing all the hard work was finally over. I spent the rest of my summer torn between anxiety, unbelievably hot climates, the sun burning my skin, pacing burning pavements in thin soled flat pretty shoes.

Dear August, thank you for being harsh. the slowest month of the year. I got my results, I got my first choice university. I got on campus accommodation and unbelievably, my boyfriend was coming to college with me.


Dear September, thank you for making me a college student. Thank you for all my new lovely friends, who drink too much, ramble too much, doss too much and sesh too much and make me feel better about myself. Dear NuBar, thank you for your €3 cans of Jack Slatterys, chicken goujons, chips, shite nights on Tuesdays. Thank you for the many hours of socialising, day drinking, night drinking, friend making and in general a bomb af time. Dear Slatterys, I thought my true love was Jack Daniels, but it seems that I left the whiskey behind in Leaving Cert and moved on to the cider Jack, Jack Slatterys. Thank you for being abnormally cheap and getting college kids wasted off a four pack since '89. 

@DavidGannonPhotography

Dear November, you're always harsh. Dear December, thank you for the end of my very first semester and a turkey dinner I look forward to 365 days of the year.



Dear skin, you gave me ultimate grief this year. Dear seborrheic dermatitis, kindly go away now. Dear The 1975, I'm sorry I didn't go to see you in March. Thank you for I Like It When You Sleep. 

Dear Vilnius, I'm sorry I didn't get to see you. Dear Amsterdam I love you as always. Dear boys that hit on me in clubs, I'm sorry but it's always gonna be a no.

Dear blood fam, thank you for always being home when I come home. Dear non-blood fam, thank you for for some reason being friends with me. Dear bae, thank you for listening to my insanities and breakdowns and for some reason not leaving me.


Thank you for reading. 

Love always



Gaby x