Walking away.

I feel like this last bit of time is slipping through my fingers. I don't remember where or who it's from, but somebody once compared love to holding a handful of sand: the more tightly you try to hold onto it, the faster it slips out of your grasp. That's how I feel about the time left here, the time left with these people I care about so much and who have inspired me in some way (big or small). I know how cliche that is, but I also know how real it is. This has been one of my best years of school, of life really. That makes it hard to walk away for the summer, for a semester, for (possibly) good.

I'm walking away knowing this is part of finding my place, purpose, and future. This is a process of finding answers to a lot of "what ifs" and a lot of unknowns about myself. I am walking away to test my limits. I am walking away into what feels right.

As I walk away, I'm relying on past experiences that taught me that friendships may fade, but everything from their existence sticks. You are changed, and you carry the change within you. I've also seen how much the friendships that mean the most are strengthened by distance. Those are the ones that grow into something mind-blowingly amazing. I walk away with the experience that friendships are in a constant state of change anyway, and some are just deeper than others. I walk away knowing that I will not lose everything that's been built up the past two years, but I will gain a clearer understanding of it.

It's time to make a mark on another place, but more accurately let someplace else make a mark on me.

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." ["Closing Time"-Semisonic]