Tag Archive for 'moving'

one year

I’ve been hurriedly making preparations to move. And really, that just means getting rid of and packing all my shit, shipping it out, quitting my job, changing flights, booking new flights, applying for jobs, phone interviews, canceling Spanish class, dropping the volunteer job (boo hoo), telling all the wonderful people here I’m leaving and consequently trying to spend as much time with each of them as possible, and, keeping my head straight.

No big deal, right?

I am simply amazed at how different my life is now, compared to this time last year. Often, I think about where I might be one year from the present moment. I try to imagine the location, the feeling, the environment, the people. Usually, I miss the mark on most of those counts, but one or two can sometimes be estimated with a little accuracy.

My present moment is the last thing I’d imagined myself doing last October. One year ago, Jess and I were breaking up, I was driving north and visiting m on numerous occasions, I began to believe that I’d actually follow through with my move to the west coast, and I was realizing how lonely (and used to it) I had become in Virginia. Never in a million years did I think, “Hmm, next year I bet I’ll be moving east again to be with my soulmate!”

So, and inevitably, I feel surprised, excited and cautious. I also sense a bit of insecurity because, well, I’m leaving behind a lot. In just a matter of months I made a solid few circles of friends by whom I feel so entirely loved and appreciated (seriously, like never before), practiced yoga several days a week with a motivational buddy (a dream come true), discovered a bit of the Pacific Northwest and Portland (and getting to know my way around), realigned some of my beliefs and started to work on some goals I set for myself.

As of yet, I have no job in Raleigh (though quite a few prospects), I’ve never been to the city, and I don’t know anyone there (besides the BG). But that doesn’t sound much different than my move to Portland, so why is there such a contrast in my mindset?

Well, probably because I’m moving for a drastically different reason this time. Any doubt I have about my time in Raleigh really all comes from my self and how I handle relationships, not from the BG or my lack of trust in our bond.

Yea. I feel insecure. But more appropriately, I feel vulnerable. And I am ok with it.

I haven’t talked to BG in over 24 hours, which is seriously the longest I’ve gone without talking to him since we met in March. I am not usually so attached, but I guess this is different. Right now he is studying abroad in Mexico and is entirely out of reach. He will be back on Monday, which will be the next time I speak to him.

Ironically, during these final moments of anxiety and discomfort, I am almost glad he’s not here to listen to my insane ramblings of plan-making. We both probably need a break, and I embrace the challenge of getting all the little details handled without his assistance this week.

But I wonder what he’s learning and where he is, and I wish I could be there, experiencing it with him. Unlike all of my other relationships, I feel I am one half of a whole in this one. This, I can conclude, is the reason I am moving right now. Although I am quite happy in Portland, I am not content. There is a void now, so I’m off to go fill it.

I wonder. What will my life be like in one more year?

226 days

That is precisely how long I will have lived in Portland.

Yes, I’m moving. 80% of my shit is packed, arrangements have been made, new apartment was sought, and I am on my way… to Raleigh.

Spontaneous? Very. Frightening? A little.

But.

Graham said something that made me know I’m making the right decision. “I recently read/heard somewhere that when faced with two choices, one should always choose the scariest one.”

:)

New friends for the new girl...

Hey, it found me Theresa and Chris, who I deem as my closest friends here in Portland (along with Graham). It can work again, right?

contemplation from a high altitude

“I am learning, as I make my way through my first continent, that it is remarkably easy to do things, and much more frightening to contemplate them.” –Ted Simon, Jupiter’s Travels

I think, through my journey along these first independent paths of mine, I’m learning that being alone is surprisingly easier than being in a relationship, which is much more difficult because all of my considerations have been multiplied by two.

When I am alone, I don’t have fear of losing anything.

We talk amongst each other, in small tones so that no one else can listen or penetrate the special bubble we create when we’re close. Discussions of living together, being together, spending immense amounts of time together is always the center of subjects. How much we love, how high we feel. It is all there.

Am I giving in to something? When I know there is no end, will it be just as thrilling?

Or, if I continued to wait and let the months pass by with the thousands of miles in distance still present, will I wonder why I waited when the moment finally came, and regret that I missed years of a life together?

And I have so many questions, now that the planning is upon me. I could find a job next month, interview in early December and be back on the east coast by the end of January, living in a comfortable studio with a bed and a table… and the BG.

My life hasn’t stopped since last year. I have little routine, I have no normalcy. And I don’t want it. Each day is so drastically different. Between plans that sneak up on me, people I am meeting, the ideas I keep having. I have learned to feel the happiness in solitude that I always wanted to feel. I glow sometimes, feeling so euphoric about beginning to find a sense of purpose.

And I also know how full and happy I feel when we are together.

If we lived with one another, will I feel this each day? Will I continue to appreciate all the exciting things that make him so special to me? Or will it all become something of a byproduct of a fantasy I once knew?

I feel restless. Impatient. Confused and scared. I want to do the right thing at the right time. I am not one of those people who can easily just sit and wait for things.

I have committed to this person. We have made monumental plans for us, as a team, that span the next ten years, at least. Our lives are going to be exciting, colorful, new all the time and, loving, honest and continually open because that is what we’ve mutually chosen to believe. (It is the only way.) I don’t want anything to change, in that regard.

When people asked me (and still do) why I was moving across the country, I had a hard time answering. I dread the question still. Sometimes I make something up. The reason people ask is because everyone (including me) romanticizes such risky feats. I don’t even really think moving across the country is that exciting. It’s the solitude of it all that is the thrilling part for me. But I learned that uprooting my life to be on my own is something that is so incredibly *easy* to do. The question of whether something people find so difficult to achieve, while breaking down all the inherent fears I’ve grown up to learn, could be done with exponential rewards, needed to be answered.

And it has, indeed, been answered.

Now I want more. And I don’t feel like waiting.

There is a part of me that is already bored with my life in Portland. I am ready for the next thing: I want out of this country. I want to feel the African sands on my fingers, volunteer my time to help the people there understand that we’re not much different, and attempt to further comprehend my place in the universe. I have been fantasizing for two weeks now about leaving for the Peace Corps. And I’ve been reading about short term volunteer opportunities abroad. (They come with great cost.) I want to be moving toward something again. I mean to say, now I feel a little stagnant. I *should* relax and enjoy myself, but the struggles of working toward something are where I find the most joy.

Although I feel I have achieved so much by moving here, I have a thousand goals on my list and only one of them, apparently, was dependent on residing in Oregon. The dream that I had given up on for so long, was finding someone so incredibly honest and loving, someone I could bear my soul to. Someone who would never judge me, accept me completely and find me incredibly appealing, despite (and because of) all my dark secrets. I believed this was not possible for me. I either did not deserve it, or was too good for it. I was an outsider looking in, disgusted that I had somehow missed the boat.

Now everything is different. Through the journey I gained my independence, and upon destination I found my soulmate.

I want to be accomplishing *more*. When should I take the next step? What will that be and what are my motivations?

Clearly all the daydreaming can’t answer these questions. My objective has been to learn by doing. Guess I should stop asking the questions, then, and make some decisions.

The other side’s grass can’t forever be greener, eh?

It is time to make a plan.

action

This week has been full of goings ons.

I saw Theresa the other night with a bunch of her friends (who are all awesome). I bonded with mom, again (!), and today I went to an intense hatha yoga class. After my class, I went to see Superbad “with the BG“. (He went, and I went, but you know, we’re on two separate sides of the country. It’s as good as a cyber date with m!) I’m having people over tomorrow night, attending a soap box derby on Saturday and then driving to the coast for the rest of the weekend.

In the journal I’ve been keeping, I make it a point to end each entry on a positive note, no matter how shitty I feel when I begin writing. The first one I didn’t do that to happened Tuesday. I think it’s the one of the lowest points I’ve sunk to in a long while, and it scared the shit out of me.

I didn’t really have any definitive *plan* here in Portland. I have a TON of shit I want to accomplish, but none of them are really Portland-dependent. The reason I came here was first… to actually *get* here. Beyond that I just want to see how well I can make myself happy, travel around to new places a bit, and maybe hook up some volunteer work.

Tuesday’s journal entry is proof of how bad my headspace can get. I became overwhelmed with sadness and lost control. I was in the midst of a personal struggle to let go of the idea of what my life would be in Portland as how I had conceived it months before I got here. Thoughts about how I would live, what I’d feel. The idea wasn’t really well-developed, but entertaining the notion of moving next year (so soon!) felt like I was giving up. But the thought kept creeping into my head!

My blog is my book of admissions. So (sigh) yes, I’m thinking of heading east again, to Raleigh, next year. I shall live in the tent, rent-free, and have my adventures with the BG once again. In the meantime, I have about a year of me-time here in PDX.

I’ve had some amazing moments this week. I’ve felt great sadness, confusion, inadequacy… but also appreciation, affection and happiness. I love being here because things just come together. Portland is definitely taking care of me. Every day is a learning experience; I understand something new, discover a beautiful scene, take a good picture, appreciate my life. I feel so *full*.

That is basically why I’m here: To be animated and curious and remember the child inside.

And if I do all that, *and* find my BG? Well… :)

I am so happy. I don’t think I could say that, ever, with any real confidence… until now.

how music takes you back

I deliberately listened to fresh mixes during the whole drive to Oregon, because I knew that listening to them after the trip I’d remember where I was, what I smelled, what I saw…

I’m listening to Shiloh right now… a really awesome mix that I heard on http://frekur.com/blog/2007/03/02/day-2-middle-america-is-boring/Day 2.

I miss those five days of driving, I wish I was back doing it again. I’ve been happy in many ways since I arrived in Portland, but I definitely believe they were the most liberating, satisfying and exciting five days of my life (thus far).