If I ever undertake a memoir or an autobiography I am certain I will end a chapter on Thursday evening, the 21st of August, amidst the reflective buzz of my drive home from Twain’s, a pool hall and brewpub in Decatur. It was at Twain’s where I held my last hoorah with my in-town friends before I headed off on my journey to Seoul, South Korea, early the next morning. I had posted an event on Facebook a few days before and was very pleased with the turnout that night. I felt like George Bailey in the final scene of It’s a Wonderful Life as a range of my friends continued to trickle in throughout the evening. Friends from high school, friends from college, friends from work, friends from study abroad, dorm-mates, house-mates, family friends, friends of friends… I was continually moving chairs from the other sides of the pub to our expanding corner. I have always enjoyed bringing different groups of my friends together and it please me a great deal to see intermingling, conversation, and phone-number-trading between these various comrades. It was a very laidback and convivial evening. A crowd of young people gathering together to share a drink in the midst of a changing world and a changing time of our lives. It was just what I wanted before I headed off to my new life in Korea.
I have spent time abroad before. I have left my home behind for extended periods to see other parts of the world. But this time will be different. During school I knew where to find my friends when I returned. I knew exactly what I would be doing once I got back. Now that the majority of my friends and I have graduated I can expect that things will be very different. For good or bad, certainty has taken a back seat to possibility. When I return to Atlanta after a year or so things will not be the way I left them. I don’t expect them to be. Many of my friends will have moved on to bigger and better things. Many will no longer be in Atlanta. For the ones who remain, our relationships may be quite different. We will have different schedules, different occupations, different lifestyles. My parents will still live in Atlanta, but my own roots there likely will not be as deep as they once were. The future is more open than it has ever been. This is both exciting and at times overwhelming. Leaving for Korea was the end of a chapter in my life. Tomorrow will be different. I accept this and am ready.
