Dear Mariah Carey,

Where do I even begin? You’ve been with me since my pre-pubescent middle school days (yes, those awkward years), all the way through high school heartbreak and the craziness of college, up to my adult life.

How can I forget those first number one hits and having you introduce me to classics like Open Arms and Without You. To this day, songs like Can’t Let Go hit the heartstrings. And of course the song that I would belt out regularly back in the day:

Throughout middle school, Andrea and I would spend many a late night on the phone, hitting play at the same time so we could listen to your songs together.

Even recently, I had to bust out a song at karaoke that no one could resist loving:

With future albums, you diversified – as did I – and provided songs even my brother could jam to:

I also remember listening to tracks like Forever on my Walkman during long and life-threatening car drives with my grandma in Poland. And with your Butterfly album, you tapped into Puff Daddy, that musical genius of the moment (and my first-ever concert!) for gems like Honey. My All was so good, they even had to make a bachata version of the song.

As we both grew older, we both may have made certain mistakes in our lives, but I never judged you for it. (Cmon, Glitter wasn’t that bad.)

But I never gave up on your, and I always knew you’d make your comeback. Now, even Andrea’s husband was jamming to We Belong Together, and who can blame him? Has a song ever captured the emotion of longing and un-requited love so accurately?

Who else could help me get through the horror of the holiday season with quite possibly the best Christmas song of all time? And even though a recent smart-ass described your Christmas special as “ho-ho-horrific,” even he was converted by the vast scope of your musical accomplishments.

In all seriousness, very few other artists (I actually can’t think of any at the time) have been with me through so many moments in my life. I gave myself the best birthday present of all time last year by getting tickets to the Mariah Carey concert at the Chicago Theater, and despite any other craziness, her singing is flawless. It’s live and it’s pitch-perfect.

So, where all my Mariah fans at???