I’m in limbo. In a place that isn’t really my home but where I have to stay for a month, two months, I don’t really know how long. I’ve just left a city I spent four and a half years in. A place that was 5,000 miles from home but became my home. No offense to family and friends in Colorado, but I’m having a harder time leaving Stuttgart than I did leaving Castle Rock.

It was the first place I was really an independent adult. I grew to be the person I am in Stuttgart. I’ve made friends there who I will call friends the rest of my life. But the problem now? They are scattered across the globe. I have friends in Colorado, Virginia, Oklahoma, New York, Washington, Iowa, Arizona, California, Stuttgart, London, Edinburgh, Dublin, plus all of my online friends, have I forgotten anyone? There are so many places.

On one hand, it’s fun to be able to say that I could go pretty much anywhere in the world and have built-in friends, but on the other, everyone I love is away from me. Can I put you all in my pocket and bring you with?

I’m excited for the next adventure, but right now my heart hurts and I’m going to wallow in that for a bit.