Dear my beloved coworkers,

As my time here comes to an end, I wanted to thank all of you with a gift. I contemplated with several gift ideas such as flowers, food, or articles of clothing, but I realized that you all could probably get anything and everything yourselves, and it would make my gift less meaningful than I want it to be.  I decided to write this blog post so that my appreciation will last forever. I am a horrible writer. I barely passed my English courses because of my poor writing as well as my inability to make it on time to class so please bear with me as I try my best to express my thoughts and feelings.

I am feeling nostalgic and sad at the moment as I write this. Words cannot express the gratitude I have for each and every one of you. You have all made my time here a wonderful, learning experience. For some students, their main focus is to make money and spend the money they earn from their coop experience. For myself, I came in hoping to absorb as much knowledge as possible and to grow as a person. At first, I thought my goal was to learn the technical aspect of physical therapy. I thought I had to learn all the muscle groups, the problems associated with them, and the solution to rehabilitating each problem. I did learn some of that, but what I learned most is about life and what it means to be an adult. I am having a tough time trying to word all my thoughts so I'll try to list them.

• PTs and PTAs are normal people too. As professional as an adult should be in this career field, you can still have childish, mean thoughts.
• The overall goal of physical therapy is to help people. The satisfaction of seeing a patient recover and just being there for the whole journey is quite beautiful. There are some patients who have left a mark on me and seeing them leave was sad.
• Patients can be complete a-holes to you at the front desk and when they come to the back, they are the nicest people in the world. 
• Lunch time is a wonderful time. We all must appreciate lunch.
• Patients are of a variety of ethnicities and cultures. In this career, you have to be understanding, patient, and able to tolerate such a diverse group of people.
• Get enough sleep or you will die miserably the next day.
• Life is beautiful. Life is what you make of it. If I want to be a physical therapist one day, I have to work hard for it.

Tracey, you are an adult I look up to. Although you weren't here for the majority of my coop experience, I still think I got to somewhat know you. I really admire your ability to connect with all your patients. I also admire how you sacrifice your time such as your lunch breaks to squeeze in and help patients out. You are really good at speaking and have a way with words. I hope that one day, if and when I become a physical therapist, I can confidentally speak and connect with patients the way you do. I promised that I will visit some day to say hi and I will make sure to do so. When years pass by and I look back on life, I will remember that you have made an impact on my life and on my career. I truly wish you the best in every aspect of life. Thank you Tracey.