Nostalgia

For the last few weeks, I've been feeling really nostalgic. I guess that's what happens when you realize you won't be living in the same place much longer.

For those of you that don't know, I've accepted a job in Olympia, Washington and I'll be taking a road trip with my best friend across the country in about two months. It's going to be an exciting next chapter, but it is also so surreal that I won't be living in the Philadelphia area much longer.

I think it finally clicked when I was driving myself to the tattoo shop from my parents' house. I took a backroad that I fondly called "Tickle Road Valley" as a child.

As I drove down the road, I was instantly transported back to the days in our black Ford Bronco, with the windows down, shouting "faster!" at my mother as she drove over the hills. In that moment, I realized how much I cherished the small memories from my childhood. It never registered to me how many memories I have in this area, but now that I'm leaving, they are all flooding back.

I'm ecstatic to be leaving, don't get me wrong, though it will be an adjustment. Leaving a place is never easy, but I'll always have the memories to call it home.