I've lived in Gainesville almost my whole life. All of my childhood memories are from there and it wasn't until I realized I was leaving them behind that I understood how special they were. When you see the same faces, stores and streets every day for twenty three years you take it for granted. I think the reality of ending that phase of my life was the hardest part of saying goodbye to my home town. I wouldn't have the same neighbors I've always had, or see any of my old high school friends anymore. I would be leaving everything I knew to live in a city where I didn't know anyone. I mean come on Oregon doesn't even have Publix. SAVAGES!
The last week there didn't really feel real. We were done packing and now we just had to wait for the moving truck to pick everything up for us. I wasn't working at o2b anymore so all my free time was directed towards dreading our final days. I HATE saying goodbye to people and I HATE seeing friends and family upset. It's hard to explain. So I spent the last few days distracting myself, visiting the random places in town that I wanted to see one last time and eating as many Relish Burgers as I possibly could. Seriously if you're living in Gainesville and you haven't had one GO RIGHT NOW. You'll never want another kind of burger again.
My aunt flew in a few days before we left for our trip to join us. Yes, you're reading that right. She flew from Oregon to drive with us. She's crazy. We would not have stayed sane without her. (if you're reading this you're AWESOME) So the day after she arrived we drove out to my aunt and uncle's house that is about 20mins outside of Gville to have dinner. I'm glad we went even though it was sad. Goodbyes suck.
Surprisingly I feel asleep the moment I touched my bed that night. Thank god because we had a lot of driving a head of us. The house was empty and so depressing to look at. Walking around was kind of like having your life flash before your eyes. I could see birthday parties and Christmas. I could see myself sitting on the couch laughing with my old childhood friends, sleepovers, eating Thanksgiving dinner, and pouting in my room because I couldn't go outside and play until my summer reading was finished. It made me feel really sick. I snapped a few pictures but I mainly tried to stay busy so I didn't focus on what was happening. Logan came by to see us off and so did some of my brothers friends. After the last hugs were given and everyone had left we double checked the crammed cars, loaded up the animals and drove away.
