End of an era

I still have no idea where I will be a year from now. But I do have a better sense of where I will be in the next 6 months. And while Boston will remain my home until the middle of January, I have begun to say my goodbyes.

This past weekend, I went around the apartment noting things that I will need to pack, things that I will leave behind and things that I should try to sell. Part of me is not ready for this departure. Boston has been my home for 8 years. And although there is a chance that I might still be here next year, in my heart, I feel that this is the end.

An end of an era. So what have I done in these 8 years?

• I learned to be me - to make my own decisions and stand by my choices.
• I took down walls that always kept others at a distance.
• I achieved my goals heading into college - to get a degree (of course) and to travel and experience new cultures.
• I learned to sew and have some awesome costumes to prove it.
• I developed great friendships that will last forever.
• I found role models, people who I look up to and strive to be more like.
• I learned to cook, at a great shock to my mother, and can make food for all occasions (well, maybe not a huge banquet.).
• I proved that I can be successful in the work place and if all else failed, I could always succeed in consulting.

I am proud of my achievements. But like the song title of the ever so wise Britney Spears, "I'm not a girl, not yet a woman." I have yet to achieve a balance in life that I'm very happy with. A balance between myself and those around me. A balance between work and enjoying life. A balance between my dreams and reality. Perhaps it is naive of me to think that the balance can ever be achieved. But I am looking for a happier medium.

Regardless, the next few months of my life will be amazing. New adventures, new people, and new places. And the next two years will be -- well, exhausting but exhilarating, or so I have been told.

The world awaits; and I am ready to go.