Once upon a time in a land far, far away…

California I returned to LA this weekend to visit friends from college after being away in Houston for the past two months. Although it’s been only two months since I was living in LA and taking it for all it’s worth, retracing the steps I’ve spent my college years taking feels like walking into a stranger’s house. It’s true that a sense of place is not, in fact, about a particular place at all, but about the people that define it. I’m happy to see my own life, and the lives of some of my best friends who are still living in LA, are panning out so well in these post-graduation days, but the lamentable part is that the perfection of being in the same place at the same time as so many remarkable people is now only a memory. Now it’s time to take my first steps on a new path, and this time I go alone.

Tomorrow will be my last day in the United States for four months. I’m almost all packed up for Hong Kong. For me, packing gets easier every time I do it. Moving to college required two cars full, Florence required some unexpected shipping and handling fees, Houston whittled the load down to one car, and Hong Kong is looking like yet a lighter load. Tomorrow will probably lead to lightening the suitcases a bit more. The neatly packaged heap of my possessions is starting to look rather heavy and cumbersome, and I hate to be the person disguised as a nomad’s camel in the airport.

Contrasting the “old days” when I was constantly surrounded by familiar faces with today, and preparing for my trip, has sparked a number of thoughts that aren’t yet fully developed. I’ll be writing more about them. What I know now is that, as tireless as I am at being surrounded by my friends, I will gain a better perspective on my own life, on my sense of place, and on those whom necessarily comprise that place, as I go this new path alone.