I've made up my mind, it's done. I'll be moving to Portland, OR in the next few months. And I can't wait.
It's an amazing city, it really is - amazing music and art scene, amazing people, thirty-minute drive to some of the most amazing scenery in the world... ideal, really.
I've been flirting with the notion since graduating high school; my sister Jen writing me long letters about the merits of the place, about how much she loves it, and then going to visit and seeing what she meant.
I will miss the people I've met in Florida, I really will. But it's time to move on.
The move will happen in July, possibly August, and will consist of a several-week-long road trip across the country, one which, I hope, will be in the presence of a dear friend or two (Cory, if you're reading this, you should be receiving a letter in the mail soon requesting your presence on this journey, a response and a solution to your letter's mention of an "Odyssey - A sojourn through this land...mile by mile under our own power and of our own volition." And Charlie Charbonneau might be on the road with us as well. Consider it, and say yes, and then convince Sara to come as well).
I'm anticipating the feeling of, as Kerouac wrote, driving away from people, and them receding on the plain till you see their specks dispersing.
I'll understand that it's the too-huge world vaulting me, and that it's goodbye, but I will lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.
And, in a bullet-proof vest with the windows all closed, I'll hope to see you all soon.