With Glittering Eyes: Day 273: The Eye of the Storm

So on Saturday my marathon of visitors and travelling finally came to an end when Katie caught her taxi to the airport. It was a sad moment. My little piece of home left me alone in Aberdeen again.

We're beautiful, and James is a photobomber.

Ultimately it's good though, because I need to buckle down and work on my dissertation and do that sort of thing. Responsible things.
Italy was more than awesome. It was beautiful and uplifting and so much fun and will probably go down as one of the best ten day trips of my life for a while, if not forever. Katie is a great blessing in my life; I am so glad to have friends such as her. Seeing her was awesome and side-splitting, but it did make me miss a few other things and people from home a little more, but also, when she left and I could say I'd see her in August, it made me realize how soon that is and how soon I'll be reunited with my home in the 757. The other side of that is how soon I'll be leaving the 'deen.
Leaving has come up intermittently these past couple months especially, as people feel the shortness of time, but these last two months are the serious business. Yesterday, walking home from work (where I seem to have most of my moments of realization), I looked at the bright 9:30 pm sky, where only a hint of sunset was setting pink on the clouds, and the air felt so good, cooler than it would be back home at this time of the year, but quite a pleasantly mild, summer evening. And as I enjoyed this and took in the pretty flowers growing on the edges of people's gardens, I realized I wasn't even thinking about where I was going, I just knew, and with this, it hit me how much Aberdeen has become my second home over the past nine months (oh! exactly, today!). Fredericksburg was kinda like that, too, since I went to school there for three years and some of the most memorable and important times in my life in that town, but when I was there, I always had another home in VB to go back to, while, in Aberdeen, I can't just take a weekend/holiday break and go back to my hometown. Also, I came to Aberdeen alone and really had to make it into a place I wanted to be; I had to actively seek out friendships, community, and comfort. This process has bonded me more than I thought I'd bond at the beginning.
So it's becoming dramatic to know that I have to leave and won't know the next time I'll be back.
I am really excited to see my beach and house and skies and friends again, though.
So much has happened since I've been away, people are engaged, married, having babies, graduated, moved, starting new jobs, and doing all those big transitional things that people do in their twenties.

Anyways, serious dissertation writing begins now. Research should be underway as of later today, and I'm praying it progresses smoothly. I have a little less than four months until it is officially due, but life will move fast (duh).
I actually have so many thoughts in my head right now, but will leave you with some pictures from Italy and be done.