On the Eve of Departure

     "I'll see you in ten months." I can hardly believe it, but this is the phrase I've been uttering at almost every conversation's end these past couple days. I have come to realize all the amazing things that will happen without me, the birthdays, parties, and laughs, that will carry on. About to leap into the unknown, I am so tempted to fall back into comfortable. That is what will make leaving the hardest. I will miss my family, friends, neighbors, and teachers. I know the coming year is full of tears, frustration, and homesickness, but I also think it could be the best year of my life.
        I have watched tomorrow approach for months, but I never truly believed it would arrive. It will be a bittersweet day as I hug my dad goodbye, and board my plane alone. Finally, after an application, selection event, acceptance email, orientation, and all the anxious days in between, the adventure, which started as a small thought in a fifteen year old girl's head, is about to take off.
        My bags are packed, documents scanned, and travel clothes laid out, one restless sleep from now I leave Vermont for ten months. I am as ready as I'll ever be, excitement and nerves are duking it out in my stomach. Here's to the unexpected, the different, and the amazing, but for this minute, here's the the last night in my bed.

Here's a goodbye tribute to beautiful Vermont which has been my home for the first sixteen years and three months of my life.