Next Stop: Edinburgh
Somehow, I've made it to the end of the countdown.
When I wrote my last update, I still had a few weeks of work left, a house full of things to sort through, suitcases to pack, people to see, and what felt like a million tiny things standing between me and moving to Scotland. Now, somehow, I've done all of it. My last day of work came and went, I've packed and repacked, run errands, crossed things off lists, spent as much time as possible with friends and family, had a very fun going-away party, said a lot of goodbyes, and somehow managed to fit the things I'm taking with me into three suitcases.
Those suitcases are now zipped and sitting in the room that, for weeks, has been completely taken over by piles of things waiting to be packed. The room is clean again, my countdown says one day, and there isn't really another milestone left between where I am now and actually moving to Edinburgh.
I think that's one of the strangest parts of all of this. Moving to Scotland has existed somewhere in the future for so long that there was always something else between me and it. Another month, another week, another Friday at work, another appointment, another thing to buy, another list to finish. Even when I knew it was getting close, there was still something. And now there isn't.
I'm excited, sad, nervous, ready, and also not entirely convinced my brain understands what's happening. I've spent so much time preparing to move to Edinburgh that it's strange to think I'm about to stop preparing for it and actually live there. This thing that has occupied such a huge part of my brain for months is about to become completely ordinary in its own way. I'll have a room there. I'll buy groceries there. I'll go to class there. I'll figure out my favorite coffee shops and walking routes and all the tiny routines that eventually turn somewhere new into home.
These last few weeks have also reminded me how lucky I am to have so much here that is difficult to leave. I'm saying goodbye to a career that taught me an enormous amount, people I love, familiar places, routines, and a life that I genuinely like. I'm not leaving because I need to escape my life here; I'm leaving because I'm curious about what else my life can be, and because somewhere along the way I decided that curiosity was worth following.
Maybe that's part of why this feels so big. For the first time in a long time, I genuinely don't know what my everyday life is going to look like a few weeks from now. I don't know what my routines will be, who I'll meet, what I'll make, where I'll spend my time, or all the ways this experience might change me. After months of planning every possible detail, I've finally reached the part that I can't plan.
So, I guess that's it! The planning is done, the suitcases are packed, and the countdown has almost reached zero. This chapter is coming to an end, and I'm very, very ready to find out what happens next.
Next stop: Edinburgh. ♡
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