I’ve arrived in Atlanta! Let’s back up a little bit though…
Prior to June, Ryan and I had our lease in Canmore until October 1, and we were planning to venture down to Central America to practice our Spanish, work on The World Wanderers Podcast, and explore a new continent (sort of). Then, Ryan went down to Grand Rapids, Michigan for a weekend seminar put on by a company called The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). He came back excited and inspired and immediately began looking for job and/or educational opportunities with FEE. Low and behold, he found a company called Praxis that does an educational partnership with FEE (as well as other companies), and after 3 interviews and nearly a month he had been accepted into the program. We talked about it and Ryan said that he wanted to pursue this opportunity, visa pending of course. I thought about it for a while and tossed around the pros and cons of living in Atlanta vs. going to Central America. Either way I would get to explore a new city and live in a new country. I would be working about the same amount in both. And Ryan would be in Atlanta. Atlanta was clearly the winner.
Fast forward to August. Ryan applied for a J-1 internship visa… and was immediately rejected. When he told me, I felt a pang of sadness. Despite trying not to get attached to the idea of going to Atlanta, somewhere along the way, I had. I was excited when he told that me that he had decided to go for the TN work visa, which is an on-entry visa, and generally the easiest visa to get approved for (if you have your ducks in a row). I had always known we were leaving, but as the reality set in, I felt sad to leave. All of a sudden, Banff and Canmore had so much to offer to me, and I felt as though I hadn’t taken advantage of my year in the Bow Valley. I began to panic that I hadn’t hiked enough, that I hadn’t spent enough time with my friends in the valley, that I hadn’t practiced yoga with my favourite teachers enough, and that I hadn’t really appreciated how f***ing cool it is to work at lululemon.
As Ryan pushed forward with his visa application, I began a long “bucket list” of things I wanted to do before moving. Before I knew it, September rolled around, and I was driving Ryan to the airport. The tension and anxiety in the air was palpable as we made our way from Canmore to Calgary. I dropped Ryan off at the airport 4 hours early from his flight, ran some errands in the city and met up with my grandma for lunch, all the while wondering what was happening with Ryan. I wanted to be fully present while dining with my grandma, so I had put my phone away throughout the meal, but as we were chatting after finishing up, I realized that it was nearly 1pm and that I must have a message from Ryan. I excused myself and went to the washroom to check my phone. Low and behold I had about a hundred smiling and celebratory emoticons. He had made it through. He was going to Atlanta. I was going to Atlanta.
I had just less than a month between the time that Ryan left and the time that I was going down to Atlanta. I hiked as much as I could, I practiced a ton of yoga, I drank wine with as many friends as I could, I ate way too much, I enjoyed every moment at work and folded the shit out of as many stretchy pants as I could. I packed, I cleaned, I moved. I said goodbye to my friends and family once again. I closed one chapter of my life and prepared to begin a new one.
As with each new life chapter, there is sadness and mourning of everything that once was. But there is also new friends to meet, new coffee shops to explore, new adventures to be had, and new memories to be made. And with each place and person that steals a piece of my heart, I know that they will be there when I return.
Farewell Canmore, hello Atlanta!