Taking a break from sorting and packing, I am sitting in my lazy-boy chair and looking past another stack of boxes, out the window. The cloudy, grey sky past the green leaves of the rhododendrons, and the cedar branches is typical here throughout the fall, winter and spring.
Am I sad to be leaving? Not anymore. These last two weeks are quickly filling up with coffee dates and meal invitations from friends and colleagues who want to say farewell. Those meetings leave me more exhausted than the hours of cleaning and packing, but I will soon be off the island and able to rest.
I feel like I am already stepping into my next chapter, ready to readjust to living closer to family. In my own way I have been saying farewell to my surroundings. Yesterday I went for a walk in a park that I had not yet visited. It was where my friend’s ashes were sprinkled in the fall.
I will miss some of my friends. I’ll miss the world-class music scene, but that is so much less important to me now than it was in the past. Attending concerts causees much increased anxiety and I would rather watch them online. Distance is no longer such a hindrance to good connections.
Reflections 