I moved to England two months ago. It’s been such a happy time in my life. As the days go by, I’m noticing that I’m becoming more and more unattached. I have all these semi-homes now: a home in my parents’ house, an apartment at my college in Oregon, a room here in England. I don’t feel anchored to any of them. During the weekends, I travel with friends to different places: Dublin, Barcelona, London. I usually fall in love with little pieces of these places. Like St. Stephen’s Greens in Dublin or the little coastal bay in Malahyde. But at the end of the day, I always load up my backpack and hop on a train or plane back to the university in Nottingham.
Yesterday I was having coffee with a friend in Nottingham’s Market Square and I saw a young couple walking past, pushing a stroller and carrying holiday shopping bags. They were laughing and talking and looking down at their beautiful child. I remember thinking, “That’s such a happy snapshot, but I’m so glad that it doesn’t belong to me right now.”
I think that someday I will be happy to settle someplace and learn all the street names. I’ll get a library card and pick a favorite coffee shop and learn what time the Saturday markets are held and who sells the best tomatoes there. I think those things are beautiful and happy.
But for now I like constantly being on the move and only having to book a plane ticket for one to as many different countries and cities as I can afford.
Yet, let me say this: I’m spending hours and hours with old friends who moved to England with me from my university in Oregon. And I meet new and wonderful people from all over the world every day. And I can’t wait to meet up with my parents in Italy for holiday. People (even people who are halfway across the world) will always be close to my heart, even when everything else is constantly moving and changing. I’m hoping to explore this more in future posts. My journal is already filled with stories from the past few months that show this.
I think it’s fabulous that you get to have this time in your life, and even more fabulous that you’re smart enough to treasure it. I think when I was younger I was always straining ahead to that next thing–now I would LOVE to take off and live in England for awhile, but it’s not in the cards. My life right now is full and sweet and I wouldn’t trade it, but that unattached phase is not to be taken for granted either.