Saying Goodbye to Ann Arbor

I've been reflective lately.  Yesterday, the calendar notified to me that my time in Ann Arbor is now less than a month.  How does one go about saying goodbye to the city that has molded and made your adult self? How does one wrap up 10 years of living and learning and exploring in one city?  I found myself in this inner thought dialogue again tonight as I walked home from a quintessential Emily "self-date night" in Ann Arbor- a birding talk at Literati with a co-op oatmeal cookie in my hand. I find myself most connected to Ann Arbor when I'm walking home alone at dusk.  I soak up the perfectly quirky but endearing houses, neighborhoods and people. 

Last night I had drinks with my friends at Bills and the Beer Grotto.  Earlier today, I sat with a friend on my favorite bench overlooking the city at Hunts Park.  Tuesday night I had an epic nightime run through the west side.  In these moments, I feel both grateful for the wonderful people I have found in the city and residing in a place that fosters my hobbies.  I want to soak up all of these tidbits of memories, experiences, and gratitude.  I wonder to myself, will I ever find myself in this sweet equanimity of people and place again?

One thing I am certain of is that I am not anxious about leaving.  The time feel right to leave.  To allow myself to be molded and formed by a new place.  Change is interesting because often its an experiencing of conflicting feelings, energies and ideas.  You wind something down and you're simultaneously building some new.  So I guess for now,  I am allowing myself to honor both: the leaving and the new to come.