This is the end...

My time in Berlin is coming to a close. I am drawing closer to the 50 week mark and my Wednesday morning flight is sooner and sooner. Bank account closed, couch sold, and appointment to un-register with the city made for Monday. School already seems like a life time ago and Lydia is long gone. My remaining friends are setting off for summer vacations or planning their own homeward treks. I've taken everything but my calendar and stick-on poppies off my walls. It is the end, this will even be my last blog post.

Or is it? Last week, my Uncle Michael called me for the last time on my Berlin phone. I repeated this sentiment to him. He thinks it is just the beginning. That I am changed in ways I cannot hope to understand right now and this is the beginning of my post-Berlin existence. I know I am changed. But as the changing has happened here, I'll only be able to appreciate that change when I return to my former comfort zone.

And as sad as I am to leave my life here, it feels right. I am ready to go home again. Back to sunshine and warm sun on your skin. Back to fog and orange trees. Back to family and friends. Back home. It may just have been two weeks short of a year, but it feels like I set out a lifetime ago.