Well, as the new year draws closer, so too does the end of this chapter in my life. I am leaving Florida. I am returning home to Massachusetts. Tonight as I was leaving one of Lenny & I's favorite spots - Boston's on the Beach, it began to really hit me. This is the last time I will be visiting Boston's as a local. As I walked back to my car I snapped a picture of a group of Christmas Palm trees, with their festive Christmas lights coiled and winding up to the top, something I had taken for granted, now pulling sentimentally at my heart strings - I will miss the little things like that. I looked to my right to see the ocean, shimmering in the moonlight, calm and serene. My beach. My dear beloved little beach town of Delray. Atlantic Avenue, beautiful, charming, even romantic. Everywhere I turn I see a memory, including my favorite restaurant of all time: The Blue Anchor. All the 101 dear little spots I have traversed and become so friendly with, I am now realizing that I am leaving behind.
There is such a finality to this, which I guess is why it is affecting me so. When I left MA, I knew very certainly I would be back one day. Without a doubt. I can't say that about FL, about Delray...and I think that is what hurts me the most. I have grown so much these past six years. I have really lived and learned here. Here I became truly independent. One does not know the meaning of the word independence until they have lived thousands of miles away from their closest friends and family, all alone, with no financial help or help of any kind, really. And I would not trade one second of this whole experience. Not the heartache of a relationship gone wrong. Not the insecurity of being in a town - in a state that is completely foreign. Not the stress of just making ends meet so that you can live in a beautiful place that you are proud to call home. Or shaking the nervousness of going out of the way to make new friends, or go on dates, or try out for a band. None of it.
I also broke out of the shackles that had held me for so long in the world of retail sales and into a new and refreshing 9-5 world. Another Florida first. My experience with the bank was one that I always will fondly look back on. Especially since they sent me to Ohio for their "AmTrust Idol" Christmas party contest, which was an amazing experience...though not quite as amazing as winning $1000 in the FL contest! But one of the best things to come from that contest was meeting a great friend. Indeed the people I worked with at the bank are still my favorite FL coworkers I have worked with.
Also, and probably most importantly, I have Florida to thank for my relationship with Lenny, which it seems is destiny. Being with Lenny and having him move to the east coast of Florida to be with me really opened up a whole new world. Since we fell in love and have been living together we have also shared our mutual love of music and opened each other up to countless new bands and sounds and concerts and experiences. With Lenny I really started living. With him I really got to know South Florida. With him I got to express my passion and love for music in so many ways. I will never be able to thank him enough for that, or simply for his companionship and encouragement and caring nature. I think our meeting was the reason we both came to Florida...it just took a couple years before we realized it.
And now, it is all coming to an end. Six years. From age 24 (just about 25) to 31. God, did that go by in a flash. I feel like it will all seem like a dream once I am settled back in MA. I'm sure I will wonder if it ever really happened, if it was just some figment of my imagination...my beautiful Delray Beach. With it's gorgeous turquoise oceans and golden sand. The mansions that line A1A that I never dreamt I would get to walk in. (but thanks to my extremely cool boss, not only did I get to walk in his ocean front mansion, I got to hang out with baby lions and cougars in it too!) My little home community of Verano, with it's lake and "Dirty Dancing" bridge. All the festive and wonderful gatherings downtown, where they close the streets to let us party, or sell their wares, or have parades. Boston's on the Beach where every Sunday night the local and renowned Grateful Dead cover band Crazy Fingers would play. All of these things and more..make my heart feel so heavy. I am so excited to be going home...but the taste is just so bittersweet. I never knew I would fall in love with Delray Beach. I don't know if I will ever move back here, but I sure hope I will, perhaps as a snowbird...someday.
