New Beginnings and Lots of Painful Goodbyes

You'd think, after going to seven different schools in thirteen years, going off to college not only once but twice, and serving a mission in a country halfway around the world, I'd be good at packing everything up and heading out into the unknown.

You'd think that, but what d'ya know, it's still as hard this time as it was the first time.

I think it gets harder as I get older because when I pack up and head out into the unknown, I don't have my family right there with me. I miss seeing my little brother go off to kindergarten, I miss my sister's second-grade projects, I miss even getting to spend the last few weeks with my sister before she gets married. As much as I know it's right and good for me to have my own experiences, it's hard to leave my family. I've always been a homebody, and I probably always will be. It's a similar dilemma to the one I wrote about last time -- I want to travel 'round the world having adventures and learning new things...and yet, I really just want to stay home and watch my siblings grow up.

Being grown up is not as much fun as people make it out to be.