The day has finally come–we finally moved out of Ann Arbor! As I sit in our hotel in Knoxville (we split the drive down to SC in to two parts to make it a little easier), I’m just reflecting over what a day it has been. After spending the week packing up the apartment, Cam and I finally turned in our keys to our apartment on Plymouth Rd, got in our UHaul, and headed south. Cam and I were both quiet as we pulled out of our apartment, and it really began to hit me just how weird it was that we were leaving Ann Arbor, the place that’s been our home for the past five years. Just as I was starting to get all emo, Cam turned on the radio, and what song came on but “The House That Built Me” by Miranda Lambert. If you haven’t heard it, I highly recommend giving it a listen. The song is really simple and honest, and really just gets right at the heart of the feeling of leaving home, and it literally makes me tear up every time I listen to it. Hearing that song at that moment really just popped the bubble of emotion that had been forming over the past week, and I just started bawling. This song had made my cry before, but today it just really got to me. By the time the song got in to the second verse, Cam was crying too, so here we are in our Uhaul just heading down the highway, bawling our eyes out. While we’re both so excited about this new chapter, a chapter of our lives is closing, and there is a sense of sadness in knowing that a period of our lives is over forever. Ann Arbor holds so many memories for Cam and I both individually and, more importantly, together. It’s the place that we received our educations and built great friendships, but it’s so much more than just a college town for us; it’s the place where we met each other, fell in love, got engaged, got married, and spent our first year as newlyweds. While we both love the homes where we grew up, Ann Arbor holds a special place in our hearts because it’s the first place that we created a home together, and it will always be so special to us. There are just so many things I’m going to miss about Ann Arbor. I’m really going to miss it’s seasons (ok, winter not so much), but nowhere beats Ann Arbor in the fall. The campus looks gorgeous, the weather is perfect, and there is just this electricity in the air with all the student excited to be back on campus. I’m going to miss seeing Maize & Blue on everything everywhere, going to Saturday football games in the Big House, and taking runs through campus. So while a lot of what I’m going to miss has to do with U of M, I’m also really just going to miss Ann Arbor in general because it’s such a wonderful place that I’ve really enjoyed living. I’m going to miss the farmer’s market, all the adorable houses, and walking around downtown. I’m also really really going to miss all our favorite food spots-Zingerman’s, No Thai, Yogobliss, BTB, and all the great restaurants on Main Street. And I’m really going to miss our perfect little apartment, our beautiful view, and hearing the train whistle as it goes by every night. I really do feel fortunate that I met my husband at the University of Michigan, and that we can share that connection. We’re both looking forward already to coming back for a game this fall (and we haven’t even been gone a day yet), and we are so going to be those parents dressing our kids in Maize and Blue in hopes that one of them will go to U of M someday! So while I don’t know what South Carolina will be like, or what the future will hold, I know that Ann Arbor will always feel like home to us 🙂
