Departure Notes to California

Hello friends,

In less than 48 hours I will board a plane bound for San Francisco, CA. I'm in shock that the moment for moving has finally come. And like anything approached with eyes open and awake, it feels more like I will be jumping out of the plane rather than flying in it. I'm filled with excitement and hope for my new life with wonderful people (including wonderful Evans), beautiful places, and the interesting experience of figuring out who I am in a new culture. I'm also just darn nervous because, let's face it, life can be demanding. Somehow, it can seem less so when you have momentum on your side, but when you pull up your roots to transplant them elsewhere, it requires some extra convincing that its all going to be alright and beautiful.

So, what am I actually doing (for Myers Briggs people, thank you for indulging the F side of me, now on to the T. :) )...
I'll be living in San Rafael in the Northern Bay Area in a cute, funky house right outside the downtown San Rafael area. I'm situated within walking distance of the little town and two delicious grocery stores, and a 5 minute drive/15 minute bikeride from Evans. We're psyched about seeing each other everyday, practicing for marriage. :P With roommates, all women around my age, I'm thrilled about stepping into an already existing community of awesome people and making some new friends.

Job-wise I'm searching with a few leads and I'll let you know what I find out ultimately. With the wedding in May, I would be perfectly happy to take a nanny-ing job and search for a more long-term something later. More school, as always, is in the back of my mind and we'll see what comes to me in the midst of this move.

I'll miss my family greatly as I have loved living and laughing with them; but we're all okay with this move because its just so awesome. I feel incredibly blessed with great and loving people in my life, and exciting new experiences ahead...including preparing for marriage!

I write you all with this update because each one of you is greatly important to me in some way. I've enjoyed our time together, and now we're separated by space, but somehow I'm learning not to be sad about the distance between great friends. An artist-minister described how I feel beautifully...

"I think... that we come into the world with a scrap, a shred of some cosmic map in our grasp. It's lined onto the palms of our hands that emerged with us, fisted, from our mother's ocean. There are days when I believe that if we touch enough hands, place them side by side, we'll finally see the map." ~ Jan L. Richardson, Night Visions

I'm thankful to have the opportunity to touch more hands, just as we've touched each others. Tracing the lines of our palms for the first time, or just more deeply, we learn the map to find our way Home (which could be right here).

Thank you for being. And thank you for being a part of my life. May you recognize a piece of the map today and give thanks for it.