Alone With My Thoughts - Leaving my Friends

I often find a run is good for when I want to be alone with my thoughts. Today was especially good for that. So much is going on in my life, that it really helps to be out on my own, running, and just being.

This month my world turns upside down. I leave Chicago, and a job I have loved for 3 1/2 years to start a new life and a new job in Indianapolis. I should have been thinking about what Mark and I need to do this month. Instead my thoughts turned to what I am leaving.

Saying goodbye to friends is never easy. I have wonderful friends in Chicago. Of course they will remain my friends, but things will be different. We will go our separate ways, and just see each other from time to time.

Krys and George are my closest friends. Krys I met through graduate school. George I met online. In the years I have known them, they have seen me through my successes, my failures, my joys and my sorrows. They are family.

At work, Bill, Fedra and Meghan have seen me through some rough patches, but also we have shared our terrific stories of the people we help with running.

Obviously I can't name everyone who means something to me. The point is though, these people are a part of my life, and I will miss them very much. Somehow poking someone through Facebook just isn't the same.

Mark and I have talked about what lies ahead. We will make new friends, as well as re-establishing old ones. These people will be our close friends, and I am sure at some point friends from elsewhere will visit, and we will introduce them to our new friends. Still, I will miss these people. They are family to me.

Oddly enough I didn't get all weepy on the run. I got sweaty that was sure. Still it was nice to just be alone, and let these thoughts go through me.

Charlie