THE BARE MINIMUM. I left my car in Kansas 5 years ago and flew out to Seattle with a one-way ticket, a heart full of hope, and 2 suitcases of clothes and shoes. I was really eating up the whole, it'll work mindset when I bought furniture from the girl who lived in the room before me. She literally left it behind for me. It couldn't have been easier. A few days later and the 3 or 4 boxes my parents had shipped to me arrived at my apartment in Capitol Hill. So little. I had so very little, but that was all part of the charm. I vividly remember my first night in Seattle. I could hear the planes zooming over me (something that's not common in Emporia or Oswego), and I jittered with excitement and fright. The it'll work mindset was murky. Would it work? This was great, but could I really do it?
Day by day, it got just a little bit easier and brighter. Every time I stepped outside, it was an adventure. A culture-shocking joy-ride. Grad school got going and everything shifted into turbo gear. It was a frenzy, and before I could stop to keep track of it all, I started accumulating more books, notebooks, clothes, knick knacks, and house necessities. But first, before all the other inanimate objects invaded the space, there came this clear box that I placed right by my bed on my nightstand. To the ordinary eye, it's boring. Ordinary. In it, I've stuffed 5 years of intimate mementos:
Day by day, it got just a little bit easier and brighter. Every time I stepped outside, it was an adventure. A culture-shocking joy-ride. Grad school got going and everything shifted into turbo gear. It was a frenzy, and before I could stop to keep track of it all, I started accumulating more books, notebooks, clothes, knick knacks, and house necessities. But first, before all the other inanimate objects invaded the space, there came this clear box that I placed right by my bed on my nightstand. To the ordinary eye, it's boring. Ordinary. In it, I've stuffed 5 years of intimate mementos:
- My very first bus ticket (cause it smelled to me like freedom, and cause I had to ask someone how to ride!)
- Lots of letters from back home with a similar, heartwarming sign-off: sending love from Kansas!
- The last love letter from my high school sweetheart and the first love letter from the boy who I feel for after
- A nametag from my very first higher ed conference in Hawai'i
- Goodbye notes from my grad school framily
- A volunteer stub from Bumbershoot
- Business cards from all the schools I've worked at
- Cards, invites, and notes from students
- Invites to weddings I couldn't fly back for
- ...and so much more
"But, no matter how you get there or where you end up, human beings have this miraculous gift to make that place home."- Creed, The Office