The View from the Woodlands: Saying Good-Bye

It is a strange thing to know that you are leaving a place, to have a few things packed up and boxed away, to have part of the next phase of life planned, but to still be living in your current life for a while. It's kind of like you start to move on while still trying to live it up where you're at. When I've been in these transitory stages before I have almost always been so anxious to get on with the next step that I rush the good-bye part...but, somehow, something (brandon's patient influence, amazing friends who won't let us leave without a good-bye, a nostalgia for the East coast) has allowed us to have a really wonderful time to say good-bye.

In the last month or so we've taken advantage of opportunities to hang out with friends for the last time and, of course, a lot of our hang outs have revolved around also eating at our favorite place one last time (Fortunato's pizza, Potbelly's (although these are in Chicago and one is within walking distance from our new place!!!), Eastern Market).

I went grocery shopping for the last time yesterday and mentioned to the cashier that this was my last time before we moved. She asked where we were going and when I told her Chicago, she said, "Well, it's not Baltimore, but I'm sure you'll do fine." I swallowed my laughter and just smiled :) Real big (she then said in a comforting tone, "Oprah went from Baltimore to Chicago," as if I needed an example of someone who had found happiness and success post Bmore-- again, I just smiled). Admittedly, Baltimore may have not been our ideal place to live, but I have found that any place you call home during big transitions becomes special to you. This was the first place Brandon and I lived in as a new couple and the place where we became parents: we will always remember Bmore. Maybe not as their self proclaimed "best city in America", but as a special place for us.

We had a picnic the other Saturday to hang out with friends from Bmore and DC who could come...sadly, I didn't take any pictures! The families we've gotten to know in Bmore-- Pettys, Clovers, Swensens, Metros, Jergensens, Mosdells (and others not mentioned)-- were amazing examples of loving husbands and wives, mothers and fathers. We also have had the opportunity to spend time with dear friends from DC-- Carolyn, Sharyn, Ashlee, Mandy and Matt, The Alder Family (who live in MD but I met in VA during my grad school years), Chris and Lizzy, Brea and Mike, Camille -- who have known us for almost a decade as individuals and now as the Woodlands and who have been constant supports and more like family than friends as we've all journeyed through our young adult years together.

Below are a few pics of the get together with "Brandon's friends" (who are now my friends too!)