Snapshots of a Journey's Begining

It's becoming a new thing for my days to be filled with thoughts of our future in the city. And, I'm realizing, it is for others as well.

Obviously, Peyton and I talk about it a great deal. Pretty much anytime Carrie and I get together, the topic comes up. Sometimes Annie's best friend says something particularly sweet and I get a little tight-chested thinking about ripping her away from a relationship that's becoming more and more real and more and more hers and her little friend's own. Every time I talk to El he tells me what a writing hub the city is. And I get really excited about the culture and the new people we'll meet and all the endless opportunities. This usually also ends with me begging him and Minda to move with us.

And clearly it's on my family's hearts lately, too. I'm starting to see it in tangible ways...

Cookie gave me an old jacket for NYC. And I wore it in our backyard the other afternoon. It was sixty degrees and I was miserable. This is going to be hard in a lot of ways. That said, Peyton has promised me electric blankets and unlimited CuddleDuds. He's a good man, for sure. I'm pretty tickled to be doing this with him.

And Minnie got me this. I wrote a post about my sampler love once on one of my other blogs. They're just very special to me. I know this one will become really meaningful. I'm excited about this adventure, I truly am. And I'm to the point where I can say it may last more than a year. It may last one. It may last three. And I will do my best to embrace every precious second we're given there. But there's no doubt in my mind that the best part will be coming home. [And make no mistake, there's a part of me that knows "home" is wherever Peyton, AP, and Graves are. But there's a part that knows another level of home. And that's here in Mississippi, and I think it always will be. This topic will likely become a whole post in itself at some point.]