I AM SENTIMENTAL.

It's a fact.

I don't know if I've always been this way...

No, actually, I'm pretty sure I've always been this way. There's a photo in my head (that I would scan and post if it was in a chronologically-organized album on a shelf in the next room, but it's most certainly NOT): I'm standing in front of the old maroon minivan on the last day of 6th grade with a little one at my feet and papers in hand. I'm not smiling. On purpose, because I was feeling quite melancholy about leaving my beloved Timpanogos Elementary. I remember yearning to move on and at the same time hating the prospect of this change. My solution was that I'd stay at Timpanogos and they'd simply teach me a 7th grade curriculum. Simple! But even though I felt so strongly, I wasn't very emotional about it -- my mom remembers with me that I thought it was silly for the 6th grade girls to sit in the reading room and cry about it. But I was sincerely in pain for the rite of passage. And I have felt this way about many, many experiences since.

Most recently, about my time in our first apartment. I really wanted this place. Tiny, yes, but so much better-feeling than the others we looked at. I felt so strongly about it that even AFTER we were selected from a pile of potential renters to move into a different place, and AFTER we signed the contract, and AFTER we paid the hefty deposit, I STILL tried for this place. And I'm glad we did. It has been tiny, but welcoming. Everything fit, even the corner couch.

Our busy college lives didn't allow for nearly as much neighborhood/ward interaction as this past summer did. And I fell in love. I love our crazy L-shaped chapel around our fence. I love the historic houses everywhere. I love the families that have been here forever, and the families in the "prime" of child-rearing, and the many newly-weds and babies. I enjoyed my nursery time, and even more enjoyed my month of Young Women time. Amazing people live here, folks. And I am sad to see this go.

But,

I know there is more to love where we are going. (Like an extra room, washer, dryer and dishwasher for starters...) I'm not sad for what is coming, but I am sad about what we're leaving. This isn't the first time and I know it won't be the last time I feel this way. I guess it's all part of the grand scheme of things. I'm glad other people feel it too.

*Pictures of what we're leaving to come soon...*