Leaving Spain

No matter how rough your time has been in a place, and no matter how excited you are to go on to the next thing... it's always a little bit sad to pack up your things and leave.  To take all your life down from the walls and leave them blank and white.  To cram a year's worth of life into two bags.  To say goodbye to the sights you've seen every day for a whole year.

I've already said goodbye to everyone I cared to say goodbye to.  I've given Yoichi cat a good cuddle.  But saying goodbye to my year in Spain, and all that it represented, and all that I hoped for it that it didn't turn out to be still remains.  And it turns out I don't know quite how to do that.

It's not goodbye to Spain forever.  Spain continues to be Spain, and I continue to be me, and I know that I will be back to visit it sometime in the not-too-distant future.  It is, though, goodbye to Spain as a place I've lived.  I don't think I'll ever come back here to live.  Never say never, but still.  So, farewell, Spain.  Once again, you've forced me to grow and to discover new things about myself.  And for that, and for the beauty of your people and cities (especially outside of Madrid, heh)  I'll always love you.  But now it's time to move on, and go back to where I think I am supposed to be.