a little sentimental

so as i sit here packing and sitting in a virtually empty house, a part of me is sad. i just feel a little sentimental and like i need to put on some Patsy Cline and feel sorry for myself. i am leaving my city, my town, my little bungalow. all i gladly give up. but in this moment i am already missing the ATL. the plan is to leave for Mozambique in September. i am so grateful to have rented out my house and so delighted to be moving towards my new life. but on this day i am just sad. i have grown up in this city in a way. i know her so well. atlanta. she is Southern and charming and entertaining and we fit. home to Margaret Mitchell and Martin Luther King, Jr. home to me. i like her and she likes me. we get each other. i have parts of her memorized. i do my best to enjoy her to her fullest and all she has to offer. i savor her Gardens, her music, her food. i spent ten plus years working under her Gold Dome and all that that culture involves, i boast her area code. her address. i write her name daily. i have pounded her pavement. i have literally ran from her top to her center in the ATL half-marathon. twice. i owned season tickets to her opera. so i am simply sad. she is what i know and i flow to her rhythm and live life to her traffic patterns. every time i ever leave, i look forward to her skyline welcoming me home. the front porch of my bungalow. Behold, He does a new thing. a new city, a new life, new friends, a new porch, new entertainment, new cuisine, a new job, all await me. and this warms my heart. but in this moment i could cry in my Coca-Cola. i could almost forego my vegetarian lifestyle for a Yellow Dog from The Varsity with a Frosted Orange. it's that bad. it will pass. the call of my new home is louder than this familiar voice. just in this day and in this moment it is hard to say goodbye. but her land is in my blood just like Katie Scarlet's and she will never be far from me. honestly, i can't think about it right now. "if i do i'll go crazy. i'll think about that tomorrow"....