Home Alone (Ready For Badassery)

Rather than working on a short story idea that I've had bottled up in my head, I decided to post. I figure that I ought to get lots of posting done now, because once I leave for college I highly highly doubt I'll be able to post as often as I do now, as evidenced by my other Class of '09 friends, who I would say post at most once a week, if that (with the exceptions of Viola and, a tip of the hat to you, Lisa. David, I say you should be posting more).

I'm really, really tired of waiting. Everyone else has started new, exciting, brilliant chapters of their lives, while I'm still here wrapping up the last one with page after page of mindless text, as if I'm being paid for my writings by the word, Edgar-Allen-Poe-style.

I've already been home for nearly a month, while most of my friends have gone (all but one). It started in the middle of August. The first was on the 14th. A few left, to CMU, to Washington University, to other places. I knew my orientation was over a month later, but it didn't occur to me how quickly the rest would go, too. I thought I still had a lot of time left. The William and Mary kids left a few days later. They up and left to Williamsburg, Virginia. Even then, still, it didn't sink in. The Cornellers left on the 20th. But the hardest hit came on the 22nd of August. It was after that point that I started to really feel alone. Nearly everyone I knew had said their goodbyes. My family took a trip to Chicago, leaving me by myself during the day. On average, I'd say I watched 8 hours of television a day during that week. (It was a dark time in my life.) Thankfully, there were still some people left to have fun with, not all of them TJ alumni. But with the start of school, my siblings, my friends, all but one had gone.

And now...I stand on the brink. The brink of the best four years of my life (or so I hope). I feel like I'm at a waterpark, about to go down an enormous water slide. I'm (nearly) last in line, and I've watched everyone else go in front of me, and come out the other end, exhilarated but otherwise okay. Yet...I'm nervous. My brain is telling me that everyone else has gone down the tube and is now the better for it. But my heart is still skipping beats every time I think about the fact that I'm officially leaving the nest. About the fact that I'm moving three thousand miles across the country, and almost everything (and everyone) I know is staying here, on the East Coast. About the fact that I'm boarding a plane with green hair and my life stuffed into my luggage. I'm done filling suitcases with clothes and supplies (and food). I'm counting down the days until my flight (two). I'm finally ready to kick some ass and take some names. And make some friends. And go to classes. And be a college student.