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Leaving home

Published: August 24, 2013

Goodbye family

On Wednesday morning, before my dad and I embarked on our road trip to Philadelphia, I said my final goodbyes to my mom and siblings. Going to grad school out of state will be the longest I’ve ever spent away from home–17 weeks. 17 didn’t seem like a very big number until I typed it out just now. I’m going to miss my family.

The morning I left, I remember feeling an extreme calm, and I thought that was strange. I wanted to feel excited or scared about all that was changing in my life, but honestly, I didn’t really feel anything. I think I had grown tired of hypothesizing what my new life in Philadelphia would be like. I was ready to get to Philadelphia so I could stop guessing.

Goodbye friends

In the days before leaving, I said goodbye to many close friends. I’m not worried I’ll lose any of these friends. I think we’re close enough and have enough shared experiences that I could be gone for any amount of time, and it wouldn’t feel forced when we saw each other again. However, I am worried I won’t put in much effort to keep in touch. I truly want to know what my friends have been up to, I just need to remind myself to make time for those conversations.

When I went to school in Omaha, there were periods of 3 or 4 months where I didn’t see some of my friends who went to school in Lincoln. That sounds pathetic since 45 minutes on an interstate is all that separates Omaha from Lincoln, but people get busy. 17 weeks doesn’t feel like a long time to be away from friends because I’ve done it before. I can’t shake the feeling that I’m leaving something I’ll never see again though. I guess that’s the nature of change.

I’m 22, and most of my friends are around that age as well. I feel like 22 is an age at which a lot of people make decisions that will follow them forever–embark on a new career path, get married, move to a different part of the country, etc. I’m currently making some big life decisions, and I plan on doing a lot of growing up in the coming months. I know my friends will do the same. I’m excited to see where we all land on the tarmac of life, but thinking about how nothing in Omaha will be as I left it makes me wish I spent more time appreciating what it was.

Goodbye tradition

This year will be the first year in my entire life that I don’t spend Thanksgiving with my parents and siblings. Weird.

Goodbye dad

Thanks for everything.

Early this morning, my dad left me to start his long drive back to Omaha alone. It feels strange to be in a place where I literally don’t know a single person. I don’t have any friends here. Not yet, at least.

I don’t feel scared. I don’t feel nervous. I’m alone, but I feel confident. I feel ready. I feel independent for the first time in my life. I made one of those big, life-defining decisions I mentioned earlier by moving to the East Coast, and it feels good to start living through the consequences of that decision.

Everything I do for the next few weeks will be a new experience, and that’s exciting.

Everyone is a stranger until you introduce yourself, so I think I’ll go talk to some strangers now.

Cheers.

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Image credit: Aurelien Bellange