It's Personal: Returned East, An Epilogue

Written a couple hours ago while on a plane from Seattle to NYC

I sit on a plane.

I will sit on this plane for a little while longer. I will watch some of the second half of the Giants v. Eagles game before this plane lands at JFK. I will pull a backpack from beneath the seat in front of me and a garment bag from the overhead bin soon after landing. I will take a cab back to the apartment in SoHo and sleep in my bed tonight. I will wake up early tomorrow and dress in business casual clothing - a much different animal in New York than in Seattle - and I will become an employee of another company for the first time in eight years. God willing, that is. All of this is God willing.

I will return to Seattle as a visitor, hopefully in the near future. And perhaps I'll even live there again someday. But not tomorrow. And I'd imagine not for a good number of subsequent tomorrows.

It's time for something new.

To all of you who wish to stay in touch, please don't hesitate to comment here, send a Facebook message, email, text, and / or call.

With that I'll leave you with the sentiment I offered to my co-workers in my final email as a full time employee. For those who have read these words already, I beg your pardon for the repetition.

I could say goodbye, but I don’t believe in them. I could say parting is such sweet sorrow, but it seems overused. I could advise you – and myself – not to be sad because it’s over but rather to be happy because it happened, but that seems somewhat self-serving. Or I could offer that I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve, but it could be interpreted incorrectly.

Instead, I will simply say thank you; I am a better person for having lived in Seattle and for knowing each of you...