The Goodbye
A souvenir, for my time in Greater Boston.
4 years on, and I still love this place; it’s always going to have a special place in my heart.
I’ve seen this city in every season, and in every season, its been beautiful. The reds of fall, the weight of winter, the burst of spring, the blaze of summer—all beautiful, quietly so. Never in your face, never overwhelming, just in the background, there for admiring. Around Somerville or Medford, around Cambridge or Arlington, around Boston or Brighton or Brookline—I spent so many days just marveling at my surroundings, at each neighborhood, so pretty and interesting in their own ways. Awe never fails to strike me when I walk on the Cambridge side of the Charles, and I don’t think that’s ever going to change.
The goodbye process has been so slow-going, so surreal, and yet here we are, night before departure, and I’m still struggling to wrap my mind around the concept of calling somewhere else in the USA home. I’m incredibly grateful for my community here, my families at Highrock, TCF and through Tufts, which I took some time to find and really become involved with, but now cannot do without. Special thanks has to go out to my housemates, Jess and Ed, for taking me in and looking after me these past months, and my fellow Jumbos, Class of 2011 and younger ones, for being the best cheerleaders a recent graduate could ask for. I’ve stowed away hearty endorsements from mentors in classrooms and workplaces here for my “courage reserves,” for the moments of uncertainty which are sure to come. So, all in all, I’m packed, prepared to fight, determined to get back up and keep walking towards the Light.
