Good Night Tree Hill

I've been emotional all day, thinking about the ending of my favorite show coming to an end. To most of you One Tree Hill was just a show, and you thought I was a little over the top obsessive, but you don't know what the show actually meant to me.

The show was my outlet, I've watched and re-watched every episode from the past 8 seasons too many times to count, and I made sure my college schedule and work schedule didn't conflict with the past 13 Wednesday Nights, I didn't miss an episode this season, and I have loved every minute of One Tree Hill. I grew up with it.

It was more than just a TV show, it was inspirational, it hit me close to the heart, it said the words every week I needed to hear. On a bad day, if I knew One Tree Hill was coming on I knew it would get better. I feel so connected to all the characters and feel as if I know them as my closest friends and saying good bye to them tonight on the series finale was a tough thing to do.

One Tree Hill cast and crew did not let the fans down this last episode, it was literally perfect, it was everything that any fan would have wanted, and it left me feeling complete. I didn't want it to end it was so good and perfect and sweet. It was the happy ending that it deserved to have. It was beautiful and wonderful and so well thought out that I started crying multiple times throughout. The first hour of the 2 hour finale was very special because it just went to show the fans again another reason why we have tuned in every week, the cast and crew truly love us. Hearing the stories and letting us in made me feel even more connected with the show and even though I have been struggling with saying good bye all day it made it easier. It made it easier because of how far the show has came, and how much we've all grown up throughout the years its been on. Watching the finale made me feel so happy, it made me feel like we were finally getting to see that light in life, that everything is okay in the end. Hearing a live version one last time on the show of Gavin Degraw's "I Don't Wanna Be" really got the water works flowing for me. Then the last minutes when the whole gang is at the basketball game years later was the perfect way to end it. Watching the characters grow and struggle has been something the fans have had the chance to be let in and  to see the wishes they made come true (Even if it was just in the show) made us all feel a little safer, and a little more confident.

One Tree Hill was a special show that went where no other show has gone before...it hit close to the hearts of the fans, and it has the most loyal fan base I've ever seen and I'm proud to be a part of it. One Tree Hill fans have a special place in their hearts for One Tree Hill.

I wasn't sure if I could write this blog because I didn't know if I would be able to give the show justice, the show that helped me get through some really hard times, the show that I went to for strength and for laughs, the show that I grew up watching and the show that helped shape me in ways to make me who I am today.

I owe so much to the cast and crew of One Tree Hill, you've given me and so many others something to believe in something so special, a part of a family that can bring so many different people together to watch the epic show that made it.

I would love to say that I was, but I wasn't always a follower of OTH from day 1, I actually owe one of my best friends Lindsey a great thank you for introducing it to me. We were washing our heifers preparing for county fair in our small California dairy town, Hilmar, and we wanted to take a break while the heifers dried, we went into her room and started watching a tv show on DVD that I didn't really ever know about. It was season 3 and it was the episode of the school shooting, I was instantly drawn in, asking her about a million questions when she did me one of the best gifts and let me borrow her DVDs seasons 1-3. I watched them in less than 2 weeks I was so glued, I literally spent that summer obsessing about this great show One Tree Hill and was angry with myself that I hadn't watched it from the beginning. My boyfriend at the time bought me season 4 right before season 5 was airing and I watched season 4 in two days. I started watching season 5 while the episodes aired and it seemed very special because I was starting that new journey with them. I was happy to have made the four year jump with them.

One Tree Hill has become a part of me, and so have the characters. I have always gravitated toward Brooke and Haley's characters, they were the women who inspired me the most, seasons 1-9. They were strong, and gracefully weak, they were fighters and they were best friends.

I never gave up hope in the show and every season where we thought it might not get picked up again I didn't know what I would do with myself because I wasn't ready to let go. I wasn't ready to say good bye. I needed more time I had just started watching it with them.

When Lucas and Peyton both left the show many viewers were skeptical of what might be but with Julian, Clay and Quinn I don't know how they could have been. Its hard to think of the show without the three of them. They were such huge parts of the past seasons, they belong in Tree Hill and in our hearts. Julian finally brought us Team Brooke fans happiness when he married her and made her dreams come true in every way possible. And Clay and Quinn's storyline has always been a very special one to follow, and both played by amazing actors.

I couldn't write this blog and not mention Haley and Nathan, they were the characters that gave me hope. Nathan is the type of man girls dream of marrying, the ones who will protect, who will love unconditionally, who will never stray their eyes to cheat, who will do whatever it takes to get home and be with his family. Haley is the kind and compassionate woman who also has the sparky side of her, she's a great mother and a fighter for her family and husband. With their "always and forever" saying and the countless Naley memories us OTH fans carry close with us, we have to agree with Brooke's speech at their wedding "When I look at Haley and Nathan I feel safer" they gave us that safe place to go to and the hope that love exsists.


 The Final Episode was the perfect closure.

I'm so thankful to have been a fan and a part of it.












To the cast and crew,

Without you and your hard work and dedication to the fans and making the best show possible I don't know where I would be. I wish I would have been able to afford to fly to Wilmington while you all were still there and you  were still filming to see some of it actually happen. What you all put together was something magical and something I hold very close to my heart. One Tree Hill is a part of me, I will carry it with me where ever I go and in whatever I do. I have and will most likely use lines from the show in  my everyday ordinary life. I feel like each character has become like a best friend to me and I know them so well. With the help of twitter I've been able to get a glimpse of who you all are in real life outside of character and let me tell you, you make me laugh and smile and inspire me outside of your characters, just by being you! You are all so compassionate and the time and dedication you have put into this show matters. Because like the last episode, and episodes before it say...what you do matters. The time and effort you put in matters, these past seasons have got me through break ups, bad days, happy days, rainy days, my birthdays, Mondays, Wednesdays...etc. I'm a better person today because of your efforts on the show. I'm a stronger person today of the lessons I've learned on the show. I have better comeback lines because of the show. My thanks and blog cannot do it all justice, each and every one of the cast members that ever spent even a second on OTH, and each member of the crew and especially the creator, Mark Schwahn thank you.

Love,
Kody
One Tree Hill will hold a place in my heart and will be with me, always and forever.