Living like I know what I'm Leaving

5 days from now I will be on a plane to Washington, D.C. where I will connect to a flight to Heathrow in London. Am I excited? Indeed. Am I freaking out? Most definitely.

But I think more than anything, I am trying to take in my last few days at home. It's been a crazy EIGHT months that I have spent living at my dad's house, working at MYO, taking classes, performing and helping out with shows, making new friends and visiting old ones. My Fall semester was a "sacrifice" on my part---spent away from my college friends and familiar professors in order to save money for London. In reality, it ended up being a semester of opportunity.

Helping out at Catalina with both "Beauty and the Beast" and drama classes, and now assistant directing "All Shook Up" at PacRep--- has been invaluable experience for me. Working with actors hands-on is definitely building my confidence as a director.

Landing such a great job at MYO where my bosses are people I absolutely adore and trust, and my coworkers are some of my best friends, has been a beautiful blessing. I know how rare a job like this is. Though I had my last shift last night, they are letting me keep my key, so hopefully I will be able to come back for a bit in the summer.

And living with my Dad, though not always perfect, is something I will always treasure. I'm so lucky to have the amazing parents that I do. And because I didn't live with my Dad in high school, it's nice to be able to share more time with him now.

I've been saying that I'm living like I know what I'm leaving.

I'm leaving this darling boy, Beau, along with the rest of my co-workers:

I'm leaving some of the most awesome theatre kids in the world:

Who even came to MYO on my last night to be my last customers! [The one making the silly gesture is Arick, the one I quoted on the headline of my blog. He told me the other day, "I'm going to miss you. You make me happy. You're like my comfort food." :) ]

And I'm leaving my San Jose Sharkies :(

And the most loving, accepting, fun-times family on the planet (not all pictured):

But the best part about these goodbyes is that I know they're only temporary. I keep reminding myself how much harder the goodbyes are going to be when I'm leaving London--- those will be much more permanent. I was told it's healthy to feel this way--- nostalgic, mixed emotions about leaving--- because it means that I love my life, that I have things worth staying for, I have "comfort food," things that--- despite the fact that I'm leaving for a very cool place with exciting adventures in store--make it a lot harder to leave.

:)