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"If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you"

This morning, Rebecca, Annie, and I locked the door to our apartment for the final time, finished loading up our moving truck and our car, and began the drive to our next great adventure.

Normally, when I end one part of my life and move on to the next, I feel a great sense of excitement. When I left on my mission, for example, I was sad to be leaving my family, but I was also super excited to be learning a new language, be going to Poland, and see how life as a missionary would be.This was going to be a great thing, and even though I felt some sadness, the happiness helped me overcome those feelings.

We are headed out to Utah, and there is a lot of positive momentum for our family. I accepted a job as an analyst for Goldman Sachs, which will have great opportunities for me moving forward. I get to use my Polish skills in the job, I'm working on a small team that's doing some interesting work, and I'm sure that working at Goldman Sachs will never look bad on a resume.

We are renting a house, not an apartment, for the first time. That means no more sharing a washer and dryer, no more flights of stairs for moving or packing groceries, and no more feeling like we are sharing little parts of our lives with strangers. Annie is particularly excited for the yard. :-)

Finally, we have a lot of friends in Utah. Some of Rebecca's closest friends live and work around Salt Lake, which means that she will get to see them regularly. Travis and Whitney, our first real game friends, are still in Utah, so we'll be able to see them. And I cannot go on without mentioning the Mechams, who I consider to be second parents and beloved friends. We will definitely feel the love out in Utah.

Despite all of that, as we drove away today, I felt a sense of solemn sadness knowing that Michigan would no longer be a part of our every day lives. I haven't really ever had someone that I truly consider home, but Michigan is certainly at or near the top of the list now, and I wanted to share some of the things that came to mind as we drove away.

1. The University of Michigan. This could be a blog post all by itself. In short, however, the University of Michigan granted me opportunities that I never could have imagined. I learned some from fantastic professors who taught me a lot. I had the chance to work for a non-profit in Detroit and get some public management experience. I got to go to Greece with some amazing people who I now consider really good friends. I had four graduate student positions that not only paid for my education, but also paid me enough for our family to live comfortably. More than all of that though, I attended a premier university and completely bought in to what in means to be a Michigan Wolverine. I love UM and what it stands for, and will miss being a student there.

I also can't go on without mentioning football. Rebecca and I should have known that we were fated to move to Michigan when I counted down the days to the start of the football season and could name every starting player, with the position, height, and weight. I loved being a student and being a part of the 110,000 every Saturday in the fall as we cheered on the team. I rarely get emotional, but I cried on multiple occasions during the Michigan hype video because I love UM. It has changed my life for the better, and I will dearly miss it.

2. Friends. I know this cancels out because of what I said about Utah, but we have made some dear friends here. Beth and Chris introduced us to Melissa and Jeff Walker right when we moved to Michigan, and we have played boardgames with them constantly over the last two years. Beth and Chris have definitely moved past " aunt and uncle" status to "dear friends," and the Walkers are in that exact same category. We knew we were in when after ending a game at 1AM, they turned to us and said: "Ready to play another game?" That's the kind of friend you want, and not having them around still fills my heart with sadness.

I also made some really good friends through school. Lina was the only other person pursuing both a Public Policy degree and a Russian, East European, and Eurasian master's in my year, and I'm so glad she was. Our classes together felt like a party, and having her there in Greece with me made it a blast. She is filled with insane stories about her life, which she bared to all of us to utter hilarity. She made my time at Michigan so fun, and I will always be grateful to her for that.

Ben and I met on the first day of classes, and even though we didn't have many things together our second year, I knew that he and I were always friends, and that we could pick up where we left off whenever we saw each other. It was also fun to see how our lives were on the same path. Both of us were married coming into grad school, which immediately differentiated us from most other students. We also both had babies, either during school or shortly after we graduated. I appreciated someone who could empathize with my life, adn Ben was that guy for me.

3. That Midwest feel. I don't know what it is, but Michigan just FEELS good. Whether it's the good nature of people, or the weather, or how everything is so green (which Rebecca and I will both dearly miss), but Michigan settled in on us like a mitten, and I loved the feeling. I will miss just the whole idea of living in Michigan.

While we don't know when Rebecca and I will leave Utah, I feel like we will eventually go back. It's made too much of an impact on our lives for this to be the end. It was a sad feeling, but I am so much the better for having lived in a pleasant peninsula like Michigan.

Comments

  1. We will miss you so much, Cheese and Rebecca and Baby. I think the gods are laughing at the timing of it all. Let's show them and find a time when we can all be together :-)

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