Starting tomorrow, I will live alone for the first time in my life. Tomorrow marks the day Melissa leaves Seattle to spend the next four months in Virginia. She’s returning to complete her graduate degree in Art History; one she will finish after two more semesters of classes. It’s a decision we made before we ever moved here and a decision that, as difficult as it will be, is the right one.
I could spend paragraph upon paragraph talking about the experience, but I’m not going to. Some of the best things are said with very few words, so I will endeavor to do that here. With that in mind, there are three things I want to mention.
- We are very different people today than we were 5 years ago. We aren’t worried about the other person finding someone else, growing apart or having an affair, but rather how we are going to cope being apart for six weeks at a time (we have visits in-between). I don’t mean that in the co-dependent ZOMG HOW ARE WE GOING TO LIVE sort of way, but rather coming to grips with being apart for weeks at a time when we lived together for the last 14 years.
- Melissa is the love of my life. I don’t know that I would have used those words a few years ago, but I use them now. We have grown so close over the last couple years and especially close moving to the other side of the country together. We have had to rely on each other almost exclusively for the last eight months and transitioning from that to relying on ourselves will be a monumental change.
- I will be living alone. I know many have done it, but it’s a very new experience for me. For reference, I think I’ve done laundry a half dozen times in my life. I’m not afraid or nervous, I’m just intrigued by the idea of 100% self-reliance. I see a lot of video games and Chinese food in my future… and probably working entirely too much.
So, yeah. Tomorrow a new adventure begins for the both of us. Wish us luck.