Well, I am in motion.
It occurred to me that I need to stop saying “I am moving”, because that suggests that I have a final destination. In reality I have only a few stops on the journey plotted out with my final destination still very much the stuff of legend.
I left my home of the past 6 years this morning with a car-load of miscellaneous stuff and headed a mere 3 hours down the coast to my parent’s house. I will linger here for a few weeks before I head cross country in February. So it begins.
After being excited about my upcoming adventure for weeks and being stoic about leaving friends and cats and cellos behind, I reached a boiling point this morning and shed a few tears. And then a few more. A general melancholy prevailed into the afternoon, and as the sun started to think about setting, I came to the conclusion that it was time to freeze my tear ducts into submission.
To the beach I headed, where the wind buffeted me far more than my emotions had managed to. There were bunches of birds, and wild waves, and I nearly got frostbite taking pictures. Just what I needed.
Though my walk refreshed me, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to indulge in a few more wistful sighs before the day is out. After all, with tomorrow’s dawn comes the next chapter of my life and I expect the rough surf of today to wash away my footprints and present me with a fresh stretch of beach, patterned with wind ripples, lightly dusted with gull droppings, and hiding all kinds of sea glass and sand dollar treasures.
what we have here is a failure to communicate 
Your melancholia is totally, totally understandable, as exciting as this new life phase undeniably is. I’m so much looking forward to hearing about the adventures that come next, but goodbyes are always hard.
In happy news, though, your photography skills are becoming so honed & lovely – I especially love that one with the low light on the waves and the silhouetted house & tree.
By: Emily (Evening All Afternoon) on January 14, 2012
at 9:16 pm
Thank you so much Emily! I’ve been having so much fun with my photography lately. Glad you are enjoying the results. I will certainly keep you up-to-date with my adventures, and hopefully you will figure into them in person at some point this year!
By: tuulenhaiven on January 15, 2012
at 10:45 pm
Yes, the photos are lovely.
I can imagine how this must feel, you wrote about it so beautifully.
I’m so bad at saying goodbye although it would have been wise quite often. I envy you a bit for that.
By: Caroline on January 15, 2012
at 3:06 am
Thank you Caroline. Yes, some goodbyes are harder to accomplish than others. This was a hard one, but having done it (and a day later) I know it was the right decision.
By: tuulenhaiven on January 15, 2012
at 10:50 pm
“in motion”: I like it.
–those photographs are gorgeous. do you have or are you going to have a tumblr set up to collect your photo journey? Of course I hope to still see them here along with updates and thoughts, etc.
By: L on January 15, 2012
at 1:04 pm
Thanks L!
No, no tumblr for me. I’ll upload pics to Flickr and post about my travels here. And tweet. And update Facebook. That will probably suffice! 🙂
By: tuulenhaiven on January 15, 2012
at 10:55 pm
[…] I have been working on this post all day between all the other things, and now it is really over – my last day in Maine. It has been a good one. I’ll sleep for a few hours now (probably not that much, due to being excited!) and then I’ll set off, back on the road again. […]
By: Pandorica Boxes and November Cakes « what we have here is a failure to communicate on February 7, 2012
at 7:27 pm