This is the visual portrayal of the sentence This is how I felt while I was packing. It would have been better as a movie, for certain, since this was the end of a three minute long exercise ball deflation. I had hoped for a more dramatic send off, but this was what I had to offer.
On Saturday morning before I left, this is all that I had in my apartment. The chair and table were returned to the next door neighbor. The Thursday previous my roommate and I spend the day shuttling my things out to a storage unit in Gresham, which I will visit exactly twice. That day I dropped my things off, and the day I pick my things up. It’s weird to think that everything I deemed meaningful and useful enough to remain in my life has been deposited in a place that has absolutely zero connection to me or the things. Though I also think it will be strange to come back in two years and unpack the boxes and wonder what I was thinking when I even stored the stuff in the first place.
The last week in Portland was a steady stream of friends through my door, which is the kind of house I would have loved to have but never could cultivate. In my heart, I know that the open door policy only really works in a college town when all responsibility is on a four-year suspension, but I do still wish it could be more pervasive. I spent Saturday morning drinking coffee and thinking about how much I am going to miss staring out at this view. I love that tree on the right, even if I did think it was a total danger and am grateful I escaped before it inevitably destroyed the apartment.
Saturday evening found me in Pittsburgh, where as usual my bags were the last to roll out on the baggage claim. My panic took on epic proportions this time – realizing that a lost bag represents losing literally everything I am planning to live with for the next two years is different than realizing I may have to do without pajamas for a night. Even though ultimately they are the exact same thing.
I stayed with my friend Anja, and in the morning we went out to brunch with her mom. I commented on the fact that I hadn’t seen her mother in almost 10 years, which made me calculate how long I’ve had Anja in my life. Seventeen years! Our friendship has a driver’s license and is applying to colleges. And it will NOT settle for a safety school.
My dad came and picked me up in the afternoon, and I think everything I love about America can be summed up with this sugar dispenser from the Sheetz (for those not East Coast savvy, it’s a gas station/convenience store chain at the heart of a bitter rivalry with WaWa, which is more of the same).
I only hope I will find something as amazing in China. But! I must get back to my final FINAL repacking of my things. Next time you’ll get a grand tour through the sights of Central PA that I will miss the most. There are many. And only one of them is Amish children selling vegetables in the shadow of a WWII tank.
Getting Schooled in China 