Leaping Into the Unknown: the Start of Moving Across the Country

Photo by Anfisa Eremina: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-s-hand-reflecting-on-car-wing-mirror-1987102/

This has felt like a slow climb up a mountain, then gearing myself up to jump off the tallest cliff, waving my family and friends goodbye before I finally—inevitably—have to make the jump. Realizing I have committed myself to this mission. The emotions and butterflies are comparable to the initial leap into the air, before plummeting into the water below. I'm currently in the plummeting part.

Last September I announced to those I love dearly that in the next year or two my fiancé and I would like to move from Ontario to British Columbia, Canada. Then with changing circumstances we decided to carpe diem and go in two month's time instead.

The clock began to tick faster and faster, the mountain getting taller and taller and the impending jump becoming more real and more terrifying.

The last three nights we stayed at my parents' house. The house that I grew up in. That my mom grew up in too. There was something so comforting about getting to sleep in my old bed again and enjoy our final meals with my family, who I have always lived so close to.

This morning we enjoyed breakfast together, delaying the inevitable emotions that would soon bubble up, temporarily pretending that we wouldn't soon be parting ways. Then we packed up the truck and said our goodbyes before driving off. I cried like an actual baby. It was cathartic.

This is day one of six and a half days of driving. Within an hour I wondered what the hell we were doing. I still don't know and I guess only time will tell if this is the right choice and if the fall will be worth the splash at the bottom.

Until then, we continue our plummet, limbs flailing and emotions turbulent.