And thus begin the goodbyes.

Last night D., Charlie and I had a nice final hurrah BBQ with David and Emily out on our back patio/slab.

The weather was beautiful, E & D brought Mr. Bingley (their dog), and we had a fantastic spread of barbecue foods: grilled portabella mushrooms, fruit salad, garden burgers, grilled asparagus, red potatoes, a lovely vegetable salad, a divine sangria, and cupcakes for dessert. There was more food that we knew what to do with. The conversation was light, and the company was tremendous.

The only thing that was less than perfect was the elephant sitting just to the left of the slab with the big "last hurrah with D & E before Boise" placard hung around his neck. We did a pretty good job of ignoring him until it was time to say goodbye for the evening. I gave everyone hugs and said we'd be back to visit soon, and then, promptly, after they headed out the door started leaking big alligator tears.

Let me refer back to some previous blog postings for a moment, and remind you that my mom repeatedly points out that I can have quite a flair for the dramatic. I think this is fairly accurate, but that said, I think this was an alligator-tear worthy event. I'd prefer to think that, rather than drama, I have a knack for letting myself feel things deeply--especially when those things involve big life changes or things that directly affect my own little life.

Anyhow, the fact that we're going to be moving to another city, and that the threads that make up my Portland tapestry are starting to knot off at the ends, is finally becoming a little bit real. It's not such a bad thing--in fact, I'm excited to head east. I'm excited about Boise, and I'm excited about being there with Charlie. There are so many things that I'm going to miss about here though.

I suppose the best way to deal with that missing, is to find new things to be excited about in Boise--and I know those things will make themselves apparent in a short amount of time. It's kind of scary, though, getting ready to move and knowing yet what those things are.