Our Bags are Packed...

This week was, in a word, hell.  You never really understand just how much stuff you have until the time comes to clean out your apartment and shove all of your worldly possessions (minus a year's worth of clothing) into a 72 square foot storage room.  Everytime you take a load to the unit, you breathe a sigh of relief.  But everytime you return to take another load, your stuff seems to have bred.  It's scary, really.  It took a lot of energy, but by 3:00 on Friday afternoon, our stuff was effectively sorted: 72 square feet of it stored in Austin, a carload of it coming with us to Dallas, and the rest of it either donated or tossed.

So, our bags are packed.  Over-packed, perhaps.  But packed nonetheless.  We got to Dallas on Friday evening for a weekend of relaxation with family and friends.  Last night, my Dad and Kate hosted a bon voyage celebration for us at their home.  It was a lovely occasion, and a great way to say goodbye to many of our friends in Dallas.  Then, today, we attended another farewell soiree with Kellie's extended family.  So many goodbyes this week.  So many people that I will miss.  But, although I will of course miss my friends and family, I take comfort in the fact that we will be able to stay in touch.  Conversely, I have begun to realize those things I will miss about Austin, my home for the last three years.  Here are some of my top picks:

(1) The Alamo Draughthouse
(2) The Crown and Anchor
(3) Riding the Town Lake trail
(4) Whole Foods on Sixth Street
(5) Fantastic Tex-Mex (e.g., Chuy's, Trudy's)

Just to name a few.  One can keep in touch with one's friends and family, but places are a bit harder.  But, so it goes.  That's part of what I take to be both the miracle and tragedy of life, time's arrow.  We move irrevocably forward, never turning back.  We can never revisit those times that have passed.  They remain in our memories, to be sure, but they can never be re-experienced.  That is the tragedy.  But the miracle is that, because our experiences are, in essence, once in a lifetime, they are infinitely precious, for each moment occurs once and then never again.  There is something beautiful about that, I think.  When you realize this simple fact, even the most mundane moment becomes something truly extraordinary.

By the way, something about traveling makes me reflective.  I'm not sure why.  In any case, we leave tomorrow afternoon.