Guest Post: The Summer of Change by Kate

Hello everyone! We have a very special treat for everyone today! This post is a special guest post by Kate, who writes over at Suede-Soled Traveling Shoes. We are doing a blog swap today for Twenty Something Bloggers who is having their annual event. This is my first one and I couldn't be more excited! A big thank you to Kate for taking the time to write for my blog, and again, check out her blog here to see the post that I wrote! 




The Summer of Change

Summer is a time of familiarity - school lets out and children find ways to make the most of it while adults wax nostalgic about their summers as kids, we have June picnics, and Fourth of July fairs, August vacations, and finally preparation for the start of school.  It's a routine everyone's familiar with.

This year, I was only vaguely aware of school letting out, I attended no June picnics, saw no Fourth of July fireworks, and am not taking a vaction this August.  For me, this summer has been about things being different - completely different - to the point of moving to another state. 

With the move, I've been rearranging my life - starting a new career, making new friends, trying to figure out a new schedule, and finding a new grocery store, farmers' market, post office, coffeeshop.

I've been learning the public transportation of my new city.  Google has helped me infinitely here - the Google Maps app on my phone lets me know all my public transit options wherever and whenever I want to go.  (This has a down-side: the first time I wanted to go a ways out of town on a weekend, I waited until the night before, asked my trusty Google Maps what time I needed to get up the next morning to make it to my destination on time, and it told me I ought to have left two hours prior, as the buses didn't run that far out of the city on weekends.)

I've been reconnecting with old friends that I had no idea lived near my new city until I moved here, and I've been developing stronger friendships with the people I already knew when I moved.  The city I've moved to has a wonder-trove of free things to do: museums, performances in parks, trails, landmarks to visit; so now I also have to make plans to see those. 

I miss the things I've left behind: spending time with my little sister and brother, seeing old friends come back to our hometown for the Fair, going to my old farmer's market and it being the social event of the week, and having tea and a homemade dinner with one of my best friends just because we want to spend time together. I miss those things, and when I go home to visit, those are what I want to make sure and do, but it's been a really exciting summer, and it's nice to be shaken out of the familiar routine.  I like that I can't do the same things I've always done, because it helps me to look for new options and branch out and do things I might not otherwise do. 

If I hadn't moved, I might not have tried a new career, and I might not have reconnected with two of my sorority sisters, and I might not have had a fabulous time at party to celebrate meat (yes, they called it the Carnivore Carnivore, and it's the sixth year they've done it), and I might not have done many of the new and wonderful things I am doing and will do while I live here.