Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Yesterday I came to the realization that in sixty days, I would be arriving in COS. Scared? Excited? I think that I'm feeling a little bit of both emotions.  I hadn't put much thought into the timing.  It was a date that loomed in the distant future.  It was a date that seemed so unattainable.  Yet, it's within reach now.  I can't wrap my head around it.  

I'm preparing to say good-bye to my life here.  It will be hard to say good bye to the friends that I've made.  The friends who have stood by me through the good times and the bad.  To the friends that have been there when the rest of the world seemed to forget about me.  It's a community.  A community with something in common.  A community where we sometimes feel like the red-headed stepchildren of the world.

I will miss being here for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and any other reason we find to celebrate.  I don't want to replace that... I don't want to find another group of friends that will take the place of what I have here. 

The last four years have taught me a lot.  It has taught me a lot about myself and the life that I knew.  It's taught me to step out of the comfort zone and embrace something new and challenging.  And, it's with that knowledge and those skills that I know I can make this move.  It's the strength in friendships that won't die just because I'm moving thousands of miles away.

I'm ready to embrace the change.  Bring it on!