I'm Leaving Today...

I'm moving to Australia today.  Well, technically, my flight arrives in two days, but the point is: today is the day I'm getting on a plane with the three bags that now carry my life's possessions and am flying to a foreign country, a different continent, and beginning a new chapter of my life.  That is exciting, amazing, a little scary, and very surreal.

I feel like the past few days of my life has consisted of a lot of little moments where I stop in the middle of what I'm doing and think..."Wow, I'm moving in ___ days.  Wait, I'm moving in ___ days?!  HOW DID I GET HERE?"

I don't think I'm the most adventurous person.  I'm definitely not the most spontaneous.  Out of all the people I know and out of all my friends, I certainly never thought I'd be the first to move to a foreign country.  I never even thought I'd be one of the first to travel out of the country.  I mean, my idea of exciting and "crazy" is changing up my order at Subway...not moving to the opposite side of the world.

This was a long time in the making, however.  For those who haven't been following my Facebook/Twitter timelines, I'll give you a brief rundown to what got me to today:

Over a year and a half ago, a friend of mine on Twitter introduced me to a friend of his on Twitter, a guy in Australia, named Phil.  Phil and I started chatting a bit on our Twitter feeds- making random jokes about life, work, moving to new apartments (which we were both planning to do at the time), and the TV show, LOST.  After a while of doing that, we started talking privately- sending each other flirty little messages in the private message option of Twitter.  As this was all happening, the last thing I ever imagined (or even wanted, at the time) was a relationship with Phil: I kept telling myself, and my close friends who knew, that he was just a nice guy who made me smile...but he lived in FREAKING AUSTRALIA.  I don't do long distance relationships- just a year prior, I broke up with a guy who lived an hour away because I thought it was too far.  I didn't want to invest my heart in someone who lived 16 hours away from me.

We continued to talk, though, and inevitably, we began to fall for one another.  Through a series of odd events, I finally realized I needed to let my guard down and open myself to the possibility of dating Phil. The truth was, distance or not, we realized we had a connection that was worth pursuing, if we were willing to take a risk...and we were.  Throughout last year, Phil used his savings to fly to Reno, Nevada and visit me twice.  We've been together over a year now and I feel - without a doubt - that he is the person I'm meant to be with.  We've had our ups and downs, as every couple has, yet we've weathered the storms and come out stronger as a couple.  And if being in a long-distance relationship for a year hasn't torn us apart, I don't really think anything else will.

The thing about long distance relationships, though, is that you can't just stay in them indefinitely.  At some point one (or maybe even both) of you have to move to be closer to your love.  When Phil and I started dating, we talked about this right from the beginning.  Since Phil has a 2 year old from a previous relationship, he couldn't come to Reno permanently.  And since I'm 25, and have nothing really tying me down here, I could absolutely move to Australia.

I guess when I say this is a spontaneous thing, it's not really; we've been planning this move and all the details surrounding it since this time last year, basically.  It actually ended up being the smoothest transition I've ever made- every little thing fell into place, from getting my passport, visa, saving my money, buying my ticket, etc.  There were definite moments when I wanted to give up- it seemed impossible to sell all my stuff, or save the money I needed, or whatever...but Phil constantly encouraged me that it would all work out, and now I can see that it all did.

Funnily enough, the details and planning have been much easier compared to what I've had to deal with the past few days.  I have severely underestimated the pain of saying goodbye to everyone I know.  Even though it's more of a "see you later" than a goodbye, it's hard, nonetheless.  Seeing my family and friends cry because they miss me is humbling and beautiful and sad.  I suppose a part of me never knew how much people would care if I left the city, or maybe I just told myself that to make the move an easier transition in my mind.  But reality is, I will miss every single person in my family and every single friend I've made in Reno.  The people in my life are incredible; they have encouraged me, loved me, helped me, laughed and cried with me, and truly helped shape me into the person I've become- a person I'm proud of being.

I know that in order to move forward I have to let go, which is something I've never been good at it.  It's a bit easier, though, when I think of all I have to look forward to in the future.  I've always wanted to travel, and now I am!  I'm getting the chance to start fresh- with a new job, more new friends, and a new life.  I'm going to be immersed in a new culture and I'll be out of my comfort zone and I already know the experience will make me grow in ways I've never imagined.  And I'm going to be sharing it all with the man of my dreams!  I don't think I could feel any more blessed than I do right now.

So, this is just the beginning.  I will post updates regularly, or at least, whenever something interesting happens.   A couple of years ago, I wrote in my old blog, "I am just an ordinary person, living an extraordinary life."  That applies to me now more than ever, so thank you for sharing this extraordinary journey with me.