The End of an Era

Dropped off my old apartment keys after moving the last little things this past weekend.

It was very anticlimactic.

All the office manager said was, “you’re good to go, thanks.”

Clearly he had no idea that my moving out of Thornton is like the end of an era. The closing of a very long and frustrating, yet totally amazing nine year chapter. The leaving behind of people and places and memories that made me into who I am today. My first house, first heartbreaks, first business, and first devastating loss. My favorite trails and parks that have seen many smiles, tears, divinely inspired ideas, and painful training runs. The roads I learned to street race on and the empty parking lots I used to find myself crying in when I was so completely lost in life… just a young 20-something girl with no clue where she was headed.

If you ask me, and probably even if you don’t, I’ll tell you that I never loved living in Thornton. I may have loved certain apartments and parks, but Thornton was never a place I wanted to be. I moved there to make life easier for someone else, someone who shouldn’t have been in my life for as long as they were. Thornton is where we bought our townhouse, a house that we would only live in for eight months before I picked up the sledgehammer and made a mess of my life.

Selling my house last summer was the first step in closing this chapter, and moving out of Thornton is the last. I would love to say I’ll never be back, but I know that’s only an invitation to the Universe to prove me wrong. And besides, despite the many painful and challenging experiences Thornton held for me, it’s the place I grew up in more ways than one. It will always hold a special place in my heart.

So I just smiled, thanked the office manager, and left. Piled into my car and drove myself back to Boulder one last time. Grateful for everything I learned in the last nine years, everything I experienced, and everyone I shared it with.

Happy, exhausted, and so ready for this next chapter.