goodbye Archives - i should log off

I know we were supposed to give you Part 2 about how we made this trip a reality, but somewhere between our last day of work, packing up and moving, and saying good bye, Part 2 got pushed back a few days. We promise, part 2 is on its way.

We’re finally off! Last night was our official going away party in DC. I’m not really sure how to describe how it felt to have so many people help send us off. It was incredible to have everyone (ok our DC people) there and I will admit their enthusiasm was contageous. As the night grew on, the feeling, at least for me, became more somber as one friend after another said good bye. Over the next few months and potentially years, we are going to miss celebrating weddings, engagements, new jobs, new homes, new babies, not to mention birthdays and holidays. Some of the people that came to say good bye are new friends, some very old friends, but for both groups saying good bye was just as hard. I’m not much of a crier, but if someone else gets going I can’t stop. At least we did it all at once!

As if a big party wasn’t enough to get us excited and admittedly a little anxious about becoming unemployed and homeless (my favorite phrase from last night’s party!) , we packed up our final belongings today and hit the road. Well…. that’s not entirely true; a great number of our belongings were forcefully dumped on others or trashed. It is amazing what two people can cram, hide, and stuff into 575 sq. feet! My apologies to Jamie, Brian, Becka, Drew, Alicia, Falcon, Andrea, Alexis and Aaron who I refused to let leave empty handed. “Take this lamp to remember us by!” All jokes aside, today was a long, long day. Our feet hurt, our backs are achy and if I see another black trash bag I’m going to scream.

I’ll admit, I cried after everyone left our empty apartment this afternoon. As Oprah says, it was ugly cry. [Author’s Note: Danny confirms…ugly cry] Trying to calm me down, Danny offered to reverse our course and give up on the trip…he knew what my answer would be. After enumerating the reasons to stay: no job, no apartment, no dream, no travel (wow there are just so many reasons to stay!) I had to turn down his tempting offer. We’re off, next stop family roadtrip.

Parting is such sweet sorrow… perhaps for Romeo and Juliet, for us, I’m not quite sure. Almost nothing is harder than saying good bye to people you care about, even if you are about to take the most exciting trip of your life, even if its something you are 100% sure you want to do. Maybe the first goodbye is the worst, but emotionally, I feel like I’m at the edge of a waterfall about to go over. I am overwhelmed by the idea of saying goodbye to everyone we know – to our colleagues, our friends and our family – literally everyone we know. Everyone is an overwhelming word. Of course we’ll be back to the States and I sincerely hope others will come visit us, but its likely that over the natural course of life, some of these people we may never see again.

February 16th was technically our first goodbye. Long time friends from NYC, Chester and Catherine, came to visit in honor of Danny’s birthday and after we dropped them off at the train station it was hard to ignore the momentum this trip has taken on. No matter what, we are going. We have quit our jobs, we have sold our apartment….We have begun to say goodbye. We are closing in on that waterfall.

Admittedly I may be reading too much into this and acting all “emotional”. I mean its not like we’re moving to Siberia or Antarctica. Hopefully most everyone we will see again, but there is such an element of unknown this time that I’ve never felt before. Going away to college was difficult, but I knew what was in store for me there. Going away to Italy was difficult, but I knew when I would be home. Going away this time, well its just completely unknown. No return date, no expectations of the journey to come. Le Saut d´Acomat I begin to think like this, and well I get teary and next thing I know I’m on the verge of a major tear fest.

Our second goodbye came this weekend, and perhaps because it was family it was more difficult than the first. After dropping our cousin Sharone off at the bus, we held each others hand and I said, “Its here, we are really doing this.” One squeeze of reassurance in my right hand and the tears faded away to a smile. “Its here! We are really doing this!”

I can see the edge of the waterfall now. We leave our home in a few days and while I admit to being terrified, I am equally excited and happy that we are following our dream. Friday we jump.

Farewell D.C.

The first goodbyes….

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