moving

My most recent Etsy purchase is evidence of me attempting to take the fast-approaching New Stage Of My Life head-on. I'll soon(er than I'd like) be moving away from my house, my school, my friends... most likely very, very far away from all of them. I'm contemplating new cultures and communities, and trying to decide how much I really need to care about changes in climate, cost of living, and (stereotypical) general disposition of the people I'll be interacting with on a daily basis.

I think because I'm not going to this new place with a particular purpose already laid out for me--no job, spot in a grad school, geographical calling--I'm thinking about the nuts and bolts stuff a lot more. What's will transportation be like? Is there an activist community? How will we arrange our furniture in our new place? Will we even be able to find a new place we like? Where do the gay people hang out? Is there an Ikea nearby? Will I be able to ride my bike? Do yoga (affordably) anywhere? Will the move make Starlee go crazy? Am I still capable of "making friends"? Theses are things I think about, often with about a million others, in rapid succession, while I attempt to fall asleep at night.

To give an idea of just how little I can actually compare the places I could possibly be living next year, here are the places that have offered Kaylee admission and $$:

University of Arizona (Tucson)
University of Minnesota (Minneapolis)
UNC Chapel Hill
Syracuse University (NY)
University of Washington (Seattle)
UCLA

University of Connecticut (Storrs, CT)

But wherever I end up, I know that there will be at least one person who loves me there, and I'll have a book full of the rest of them only a letter, phone call, or email away. That's a nice feeling.