elle dee's adventures -- leaving jackson

The next few posts will be a recap of my journey from Jackson to Phoenix -- for all of you who have been wondering, "Where is she? Will I ever hear from her again?" I am actually now safely in Phoenix and getting settled, thanks for wondering, here's the story, and be sure to check out the pictures as they're posted.

It seemed like I was never going to leave -- I had tried all week to get things tied up at the church, and still had some loose ends to finish up, including getting the rest of what I needed out of my old office. Plus, I still hadn't packed my car up by the time I got to Tuesday, the weekend had been a whirlwind -- my going away party, my last Sunday at church, moving freshman in at SAU (note to self -- had a good time, but do not sign up for things like that when you're moving the next day)-- it was all this huge, surreal blur.
But, leave I did, after a long weekend of goodbyes. I somehow managed to cram every nook and cranny of my Jetta full of stuff that "just had to go" at least home to my parents' house, with a substantial pile of things that my friend with whom I'd been staying agreed to take to Goodwill (thankfully). And, appropriately, it was both dark and rainy once I set out. I tried to at least not cry while I was ordering Taco Bell to go, which I barely managed to do, and then as I cruised up 127 I couldn't help it anymore. At a certain point, I couldn't tell if I was having a hard time seeing the road because it was raining so hard, or because I was crying, or both. Then, I sort of started laughing at myself -- I had put in a Queen's Greatest Hits CD that Sam had sent along with me, hoping it would sort of distract me a bit from all the emotions going through my heart -- and here I was, crying, with Queen in the background, two totally different things going on at once, and it was just funny once I realized it.

Leaving is hard, my friends. I think I probably looked like I was taking it all in stride, but I think that was really due to the fact that I was living in a certain degree of denial, and the drive to my parents' was the first piece of reality hitting.