Leading up to the big move and after my parents left me to spread my wings and fly, I found myself mourning the life I once lived and loved. Although I wholeheartedly feel that it was time for me to get out of Atlanta after 22 years, I still couldn’t help but look back and yearn for all of the experiences that used to be such an integral part of life, yet are things I’ll likely never get to encounter in the same way again.

For all the times my dad would carry me and my sister upstairs at night because we were too sleepy to walk.

Scraping my knees while learning how to ride a bike without training wheels.

The countless Saturday mornings spent watching my little brother play football at NYO.

Eating salted watermelon at my grandparent’s pool with 50’s music blasting.

Getting to unpack my day with my mom after school.

Going for joyrides with my friends around the city once we got our driver’s licenses.

Having a boy pick me up from my childhood home for a date.

Listening to Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged on the way to high school because my car didn’t have an aux cord.

Using a dorm shower.

Racing to make it to Big Softie before it closed after chapter on Wednesdays.

Laughing in the living room with my college roommates the morning after a night out.

Making the treck up Spring Street from my apartment building to Scheller.

Whether we realize it or not, each thing is moving simultaneously towards change, even when it happens at different paces and takes on different directions.

I will never forget the time I was talking to my Mimi after turning six years old and telling her how badly I wanted to grow up and be 16 so I could drive a car, to which she responded, “It’ll be here in the blink of an eye, so just enjoy where you are.” Now I’m 22, hate driving on highways, and my grandma can barely remember who I am anymore. Although there is peace in knowing during the bad times that change is the only constant, having to let the good times morph into something else causes a sense of loss that’s hard to put words on.

Through this experience of starting my life completely from scratch, I’ve come to know that matter how much you try to appreciate your current circumstances and stay in the present moment, there will always be pain in saying goodbye, even to the most mundane aspects that were always a regular part of our lives. Thank you to everyone who made it so hard to leave Atlanta, and know that you live in my heart & mind always!!

💘 Hanna