I’m somewhere different now! 

Writing that, I think I should feel more out-there, wild, adventurous, even though I don’t actually feel different. Life feels more normal than it has for months, even though I’m in a new house, taking new, very different classes (I’m an astronomer now), in a new state, with new roommates. But instead of living with the fallout of a sense of interrupted reality, I’ve been so astronomically lucky as to be able to create a different reality, one that includes early morning breakfasts on a porch that feels like a tree house, Friday night stargazing to Fleetwood Mac, long Facetimes curled in bed that feel grounding and safe and loving.

This whole living-off-campus-like-really-off-campus-like-three-hours-off-campus thing has felt more like summer camp than moving or going to school or leaving home. I’m leaning into an older self I half forgot I was, the type who goes on long walks through the green mountains and touches all the jewelweed, the type who packs a trip day lunch, the sort who shares a shower with a spider because it was technically there first and therefore has dibs.

In a few weeks I’ll be (safely) on to the next location. New place, same me. That’s a good thing.