I have approximately 14 days left as a resident of Virginia and then it's off to Alabama. My moods and feelings about this whole college thing range from "OMG OMG OMG I'm so excited so many new friends and people and things to do and see" to "I'm locking myself in the Suburban and living at home forever and ever and I'll work as a nanny or something as long as I can stay here".
This summer has been so crazily busy that interning kept most of these feelings at bay for June and really until the middle of July. Since I didn't really handle my feelings in a healthy way until, um, last week, the past few days have been a serious roller coaster of ups and downs and second thoughts and reality checks.
My list of places to eat are growing more and more lined with blue and only a few places remain: The Yard House next friday, my favorite mexican restaurant with my favorite waiters who are almost family now for my last night in town, Whole Foods for cupcakes, Sugar Plum for a slice of cake. No Frill for chicken sandwiches, Chicks for fried oysters, and Bakers Crust for tavern chips all got crossed off last week. One last Taste run is in order today with one of my favorite people ever, but who am I kidding, I'll probably take a second lunch sometime before I leave just for one more Hilltop.
I'm trying to balance running so I keep my head on straight, TidalWheel so I can have more time to hangout with my friends and favorite instructors, and now Pure Barre so I can kick those lassssssst five pounds off the scale that I was supposed to lose the week after graduation. Many thanks to those three for keeping my legs consistently sore/bruised for the past three weeks. (Sidenote: Pure Barre is no joke.)
Then there are things I can't even deal with/talk about: minute things like shower caddies, laptop cases, waterproofing backpacks, ordering stationery, when exactly my last sit on the beach day is, new glasses, where I'll fill prescriptions. In my next life, maybe I'll write a book about all this, and how to do things like moving more efficiently, because the refrain "I went to summer camp, this will be easy!" no longer applies. Things like school colors and matching and dorm schemes now apply.
Case in point: my mother and I go to Target for a white shirt, see one of my best friends, talk to him for an hour and a half, and leave with sheets and towels at 10:30 at night. I then proceed to take my sheets and towels to my monogrammer, get in a debate about what font and which colors to use with her, finally leave. I picked up my coral sheets and navy towels in a trashbag three days later. Old high school habits die really, really, really hard. This has also been evidenced by the amount of orange and blue I've found in my room while packing and weeding things out.
Back to my point, there are things I'm anticipating, like getting to eat at my favorite places, and things I'm not thinking about, like saying goodbye to my 30 or so closest friends until Christmas. Nothing triggers a good old "why didn't I go to UVA and follow the normal route with my friends so I could come home on the weekends and still see everyone" freak out like realizing I won't be at home or see anyone until almost 2014. Yikes. There's going to be no safety net of friends to fall back on the first week of school or knowing everyone in my class or my home to come to.
But that's okay. Life goes on and even though I'm a little terrified, I am ready to fly from the nest. I might stumble a little bit, but that's okay. I might not 100% think it yet, but I am ready and I know I'll be okay. I think it's my orange and blue bulldog heart that might take the longest to convert.
xx
