Fly.

"So keep on climbing, though the ground may shake.

Just keep on reaching, though the limb might break.

We've come this far, don't you be scared now.

'Cause you can learn to fly, on the way down."

- Maddie and Tae.

I didn't think today would be that hard. I kept shrugging it off and thinking that it would be over in a small wave. 

I didn't expect to be turning away from the curb, gasping for breath and peering tightly at the stop signs between tears. 

I didn't think I would be crying by the time I hit the Interstate. I didn't think I would drown out the radio with the sadness. 

I didn't think about all of this because goodbyes are probably my least favorite thing in life. And no one wants to plan for the moments they hate the most.

I said goodbye to my best friend today. Goodbye for four months, that is. We've done this before, but never like this. Well, on my end, for sure. 

We've spent the past nine days together, so high on life we couldn't contain our laughter AT ALL. We took on the tourists down on Broadway with cowboy boots in tow. We drank cheap beer and ate way too much food at every single restaurant in town. We sang songs we pretended to know on the front porch at midnight. And because of those moments, I cried all the way home from leaving my best friend at the airport. 

I am so beyond lucky to have this life I have made for myself in Nashville. The memories and friends I have made in three years have also made me in three years. But I still hold on to my home as tight at possible, and the last piece of California I will have for four months is currently taking off. 

Maybe I'm just nervous. This whole college thing isn't technically new, but not living here for over eight months makes me feel as if I'm starting from scratch once again. I haven't sat in a legitimate classroom and there's construction at corners I used to know. I'm having to learn new shortcuts to old hangouts. And I have to reconfigure how I made this town my own.

I can do it, but it will take some time. 

I'm going to be okay. Great, even. But not overnight.

My best friend will be far from me, but that doesn't make me love her (and the rest) less.

One thing I did catch during my dramatic breakdown drive home, was the radio DJ saying, "It never gets any easier. But you gotta let them try it out. At least for a little."

You know what? She's right. Even if trying it out means a few tears and a lot more happiness. It's worth it. 

So I'm just going to stop thinking and planning and just be. Because I can do it. 

We all can.