In a week, I will be sitting at my desk in Ames.  Not only will I be living in a new location, but I will be embarking on a new chapter of my life.  Maybe that isn't even a good analogy... more like... a sequel to a book that was not originally intended to be a part of a series.  You know, written down the road a few years or just in a different setting/situation, a few carry over characters, but others are present by name only and some are completely absent.  True, there will be many new characters entering the story, but you, dear reader, have always been in it for the characters, for they are the meat of a story, and will miss the regulars to whom you became so attached in the original volume.

The whole leaving town thing really has hit me pretty hard in the past week.  Ambivalence abounds...  the thing is, it is quite probable that I will never see many of these people again, especially those casual acquaintances that one doesn't even really consider until they are conspicuously missing and those people who are kind-of-friends but awkwardness intervenes when the thought of calling them up to chat or visiting them when in town (since there are so many people that should be seen). 

The entire situation has been exacerbated by the entrance of a new friend interest in my life.  I have spent the past year of my life getting reacquainted with friends that I already had but had been put on the back-burner during a time-consuming relationship.  I have staunchly believed that I, really, had enough friends and too little time, so having to work to add another friend to my dance card was not only unnecessary, but also undesirable. I have neither actively pursued nor wished to do so any new friendships.  I have reinforced and deepened preexisting relationships, including mine with Me.  All-in-all, it has worked out very well for me. 

However, I have discovered, in the past three months-ish, that I really like some of the people that I work with, one in particular has been discovered mere weeks (two-ish) ago.  And, wouldn't you know it, he's really fucking awesome.  We click.  It has been so long since I have "clicked" with a new person and felt a connection like I feel with him.  I am a bit bitter about fate's decision to put him in my path so close to the end of my four year tenure in this town.  I have been obsessing about this situation.  I would really like to be friends with him, continue our conversations and interactions.  However, I worry that I am leaving at a very critical juncture in our friendship.  You see, the energy and resources required in order to maintain a friendship is quite different from those required in order to develop one.  Thus I fear that due to my leaving so early on will cause what could have been a significant and really fabulous relationship to fizzle and die.  And then what happens to that connection, that "click"?  Does it just disappear?  I don't know...

So, I just spent the past eight hours (!!) talking with him.  Funny how eight hours seems like a year whilst working, contrast that with how eight hours felt tonight:  during the conversation-like forever, after it had ended- like a moment.  Now I am not in a going to bed mood.  My body is crashing, but my brain is not in the mood.  I am oddly energized, especially considering the amalgamation of emotions that I am feeling. 

Alright, one final comment and then I will stop obsessing, for a while:
One thing that strikes me about this friendship thus far is that I don't feel like I am recreating or trying to recreate anything.  It just is.  It is new.  It is what it is and doesn't try to be something that I once had with someone else.  I like that.  I think also that it is very healthy and exciting.

Well, this post has been very out of character for my blog as a whole, but I think that I like it, in general. 
For those of you who are regulars: I do hope that you will stick with me through this transition and the excitement which will definitely ensue, expect to see posts of this and the simple informative type to appear in the coming months. 
For those of you who are first-timers: Do come back and check out what this is all about, it promises to be an exciting ride.