Road Trip

So yesterday I took a last minute road trip with a few of my girlfriends down to Richmond, VA to visit some of our best friends from college. I couldn't have planned a more perfect evening: wine, hummus, crab dip, goat cheese, ice cream, and a few episodes of Sex and the City.

I realized while driving down I-95 to Richmond that the next time I am on that stretch of highway I will be on my way to San Francisco. My heart pounded with excitement and I found that I couldn't stop smiling. They asked me to promise to move back to the East Coast eventually, but I couldn't make that promise. I don't know what Phase Five has in store for me, but I know that I can't go into it knowing that it's only temporary. I can't plan Phase Six now. There's still too much to figure out about Phase Five.

It is hard to explain to them that moving far away is just something I have to do. I don't know why I am so eager to leave my life and friends here in DC. But I do know that each reunion with my girlfriends from college is an exercise in time traveling back to a random Thursday night in Charlottesvillle in 2001. Our stories have changed - new characters, more difficult problems. But our resulting laughter and love for each other has remained constant despite three years of dispersion.

And that's where I find my solace. It will always be easy with them, even when everything else is hard. And they will always be just a plane ride away.