This must be the place

Seen at Castle Hill, May 2014

This past weekend I went to Austin to look for apartments with Melany. It was stressful for a variety of expected and unexpected reasons, but we got everything figured out. We've applied for an apartment.

I'm so excited. I'm also terrified. I know it's going to be a tough adjustment, but if I waited until I was ready, until moving to a huge city wasn't scary, I would be waiting forever. Sometimes you've just got to do things. You've just gotta go.

I know there a lot of people who don't get it (namely extended family members and my mother's boss). Why do I have to move to Austin? Why would I leave my good job at United? There are a lot of reasons, but the main reason is Austin simply feels like home.

This has always been a little difficult to explain to people. I grew up in a town with less than two thousand people in it. How could a city of nearly 850,000 feel like home? Recently while skimming through a photo book in Waterloo, I came across a quote that articulates my feeling perfectly:

"When I was little I asked my dad why he went to Austin so much. I remember him telling me that his heart slows down a few beats here."

I got chills when I read that because that's exactly it. My heart slows down a few beats when I'm in Austin. It just feels right to me. I can't believe I'm going to be there so soon.

-Maggie