Where the Heart Is

It simultaneously feels like yesterday and like a decade ago that I moved to New York City. The three years that I spent there were filled to the brim with changes, ups, downs, laughter, tears, excitement, success. All of these emotions have centered around one, incomparable thing...love. The love for a place - no matter how angry it makes you, how crazy the people are, and how exhausted each day leaves you. The love for people - from those who become your closest allies to strangers on the street, we survive and devour the city daily. The love for living - to get up every day, go to work, fight for what you believe in, build relationships, and learn about yourself. And it is love that carried me from New York to where I sit today - Boise, Idaho. My new home is home first to Jeff, my boyfriend since our college days in Eugene, Oregon. A Boise native, he left a budding career in sports marketing and social media in the Big Apple last year to pursue his dream of running his own business. After a year of long distance, I decided to join him. Understandably (to a certain extent), New Yorkers gave me a hard time about this move. I had a wonderful job, a great group of friends, half of my family - I was a success in one of the greatest cities in the world. But no one can truly argue with love. It has been a scary transition, not without tears and frustration, and one that will determine the next, enormous chapter of my life. Yet, as I sit in our home, surrounded by treasures and keepsakes, new furniture and old books, I am warmed by the feeling of comfort for the journey we've taken, excitement for the future unknown, and happiness for being the kind of person who can follow her heart.

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