That’s right, T-minus approximately one month until departure. In less than a week here I will be finished with this school semester, marking what may or may not be the last time I ever attend a university. Following that, I will be fervently (or perhaps not so fervently) searching for a job. As well, I seem to have accumulated a series of dates with individuals whom I may not see anymore following the move. Dinners.

As the time draws near, I find myself wondering how people in similar situations say goodbye. Fortunately for me, most of my loved ones, friends, and acquaintances are already spread out around the United States so my moving to another place doesn’t change our relationship much. However, despite this, I still feel as if I have to say goodbye to a great many things. I can think of at least a handful of people that I’m going to see in the next month that I may not see again for a very long time, if at all. I wonder, should that change anything about how I interact with them, or what I say?

Likewise, how do we ultimately say goodbye to our homes? I grew up in San Antonio, and have lived in Texas all my life. I’m moving elsewhere because I think I’ll enjoy elsewhere more, but that doesn’t change the fact that I grew up here, and I’ll always have some Texas in my blood. How will that affect my perception of living elsewhere, I wonder?

The combination of events of moving, graduating from school, starting my career, etc. function to make this a pretty large transition in my life, whether or not I choose to accept it. And perhaps because of those same things, it also feels like the end of an era. An era in which I am choosing to leave a lot of things behind, both literally and figuratively. What will it be like, I wonder, to shed that old skin, and bare the new layer to the elements as I am? I can imagine myriad possibilities, both good and bad. I suppose only time will tell.