Well, we’re down to our final week in our “together hometown.” In one short week, we will be moving away from the place where we met, became best friends, fell in love, shared our first kiss (and many more after that!), got engaged, spent our first year of marriage, and oh yeah- went to college. This town is really full of memories for both of us.
Just tonight, we rode our bikes over to our favorite local custard place, past the run down building where I took my freshman and sophomore year architecture studio classes. And I can still vividly remember the graffiti walls, late nights, line dancing to “Footloose,” and even the smell of the building.
We know where we’re going for the coming year. Sort of. And after that, we have no idea where life might take us. We talk about the possibility of coming back here but there is no way to know if that will ever happen. Sure, we’ll be back to visit some friends and my sister who are still in classes but that’s not the same as living here. Part of me thinks that if we had moved right after I graduated, it would have been easier. But now, we know a little what it’s like to live in TOWN, not just on campus. And we like it. A lot. And now, we have one week left and last five seem to have disappeared all too quickly.
The coming year promises to hold many adventures… a new apartment (which we have yet to find), Z’s first year of teaching, and hopefully a new job for me! We’ll find a new church and hopefully some new friends. But we’ll also be far away from our “old” friends and I’m anticipating needing to get mapquest directions in order to find the grocery stores in our new, significantly larger, town (Actually, it’s a small city) as I am completely unfamiliar with the area.
We’ll also be much closer to Z’s family. Which will be a blessing in many ways but also a challenge for me as I learn how be a part of their family on a more regular basis. (Not that I’m not ALWAYS a part of their family but we’re going to be seeing a LOT more of them and that’ll be a new experience for me!)
But, we’ll be together and going through a bigger move like this will be another first for our marriage. And all of our other “firsts” turned out really well so far! 
So, anyway… one week left and then we’re off!
In the meantime, I’ll work on filling you in on Z’s graduation celebration and his upcoming concert this weekend. (Did I mentioned that we’ve filled every spare moment between now and moving day? Or that we’ve also filled every weekend between now and the end of July with plans? No boring summer for us!)
Off to bed… only 4 more days of work!
E
