My graduate school acceptance letter came in the mail this week. So, it’s official. For the next two years, I will be spending far more time than is healthy studying, preparing for clients, and working in the campus clinic. To maintain sanity and avoid the two-hour-per-day commute, William and I are moving to Eugene. We recently began the process of buying a house which we really love. I am thrilled at the new adventure before us, and William is enthusiastic in a William (aka Even Steven) sort of way. Luckily for us, his work situation remains completely flexible.
Of course, leaving our cozified, little house on Maple Ave will be bittersweet. William and I met and fell in love in Corvallis and in this house. We poured ourselves into it: remodeling, refinishing, insulating, and landscaping. Our 21 year old kitty is buried under the dogwood tree out front, where he would often wait patiently for our return. I’ll miss that reminder of him. I’ll miss calling the shadiest garden The Berry Patch and the corner garden The Pond. I’ll miss remembering my dog-girl Haley running to the apple tree, in hopes of a windfall, long after apple season was over. I’ll miss the roses that William always brought in and left by my bedside, and I’ll miss watching our newly planted maple trees grow and turn fire-engine red every fall. These memories will be attached to this place and, inevitably, on them the dust will gather.
HOWEVER, I know that in our new home we will accumulate new stories and secrets and names. We will kneel in the dirt and plant bulbs and then try to keep the deer from eating them. We will celebrate and cry. We will grow. We WILL have ripe tomatoes before September! Laughter will paint the walls, and our guest room will surely runneth over. We will look back and be glad. I will look back and say, “Thank you, William, my friend and partner, for being open to This Adventure.”
