Obviously both Adam and I are anxious to be on our way. The thought of uprooting our lives and leaving behind everything stable - everything we have known - is exciting. And it is fulfilling a very real desire in both of us to walk a path less travelled and discover ourselves and the world along the way - whatever that means. However, I can't ignore the fact that this is an undeniably scary proposition. I love my job, I love being close to my family, I love stability, and I love my village.
When I say village, I am talking about something very specific. I am talking about the close network of friends who essentially become family. They are the people who you rely on, who will drop everything when you need them, the kind of friends who ask you to be their Valentine when your significant other is out of town because they don't want you to be lonely. I am talking about the people who you want to live next door to someday. We have many villages in and around Los Angeles, and by that I mean many groups of people who we love and care for like family. I should also note that we have wonderful family members here that we love and care for like friends. Leaving them all will be hard; especially because we know it is very likely that LA will not be in our future. It's not out of the question, but not a front runner.
Let me take this moment to declare my undying love for Los Angeles. It is a city for people who love people. Lots of different kinds of people. It is a city where you can eat anything, do anything and be anything. It is a city where your opinions and beliefs about really anything are constantly challenged, because this city is alive with perspectives and passions unlike any other. I LOVE that about LA and I always will. But still, I'm ready to learn a new city, to be an outsider, or a "transplant," as a friend from Jersey calls herself.
But, in true Ali fashion, I am not content with "future unknown" being emblazoned on my forehead for the next year or however long we end up vagabonding for. It's too scary for me to be without some sort of planned future possibility. Enter Denver Colorado. I've been telling people for a while now that is is very likely that Adam and I will end up in Denver after our adventures. And it is. Denver is a city that seems built for us. Thriving ed reform community, great beer, diverse population, and outdoors to boot! But I still have to wonder, why did I latch so desperately to Denver specifically?
I think Denver has come to represent something more to me. It is a symbol of future stability for my soon to be unstable life. There are jobs, and good people, and beautiful outdoors... I can live with that, it's realistic. But it has led me to go into recruitment-mode. I must move my village to Denver. I must recruit the people I love so that I don't have to do my least favorite thing in the world: say goodbye.
I suppose the point is that I really do value my village, and I hope I will find one wherever it is that Adam and I end up: Denver or elsewhere. But if anyone from my village wants to relocate.... Denver is probably where you will find us. No pressure or anything...