Leaving on a jet plane...

Howdy y'all,

Today I leave to start a new chapter in my life. This is surreal because around this time last year, May 2011, I wasn't even close to graduating college and now I'm on my way to Teach For America in Miami, Florida after having spent an entire 9 months in the great city of Austin, Texas learning and growing so much professionally and personally. This just affirms my belief that you learn a tremendous deal about yourself when you step out of your comfort zone and just experience life.

This past weekend was the most perfect way I could have spent my last weekend in Texas. I was out on a lake with great friends and didn't have a care in the world. Four days and three nights of being in a bathing suit, drinking my own concoction of southern style sweet tea, jet skiing, boat riding, cliff diving, and star gazing out on the dock at night-  I am a true Texas girl, through and through.


While it has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember to travel and live in different cities after I graduated college, now that it's a reality it seems... Well, I can't quite pinpoint my emotion here; I've been trying to for some time now. Let there be no confusion. It would be a lie if I said that I wasn't unsure about my next steps. Excited? Yes. Nervous? Absolutely. Scared? Not so much.  In some ways this move seems unreal. I feel like i'll come back to ATX in a couple of weeks and say, "that was fun, back to work," but that's not the case.

I'm mostly sad about leaving behind friendships that I have created here but I know that that is silly because true friendships survive whether you live in the same city or 2,000 miles away. I know the friendships that make up my Austin family will continue for years to come. I'll just miss hanging out with them every day. I thank them, my ATX friends, because they have helped my realize some things about myself.

I know that i'll make great friends in Miami and will not want to leave them when the time comes either. In a way, this is great to make friends in different cities, in another way it's not so great, because I'll eventually have to say good bye. That's not particularly a trait that I want to grow accustomed to. Making new friends, yes. Saying goodbye, no thank you.

So, having said that, this is NOT goodbye my dear ATX friends. This is simply an "I'll see you later." We will continue to keep in touch, and when we will see each other it will be as if we were never apart. I am blessed to have made such awesome friends in you wonderful people.

In a few hours time I will be leaving on a jet plane away from my beloved Texas to conquer a whole new state. Let's see what the next chapter holds, shall we?


Until next time,

RTIII