Nostalgia strikes again.

Ok, here we go. Let me begin by saying that I love my school, my kids, and my job in general. I love my friends here, I love being close to my family, and, at the risk of sounding like a total hermit loser, I love living with my mom again. I mean, she's pretty much awesome and I missed her like crazy when I was away.

That is my disclaimer. I am not uberly depressed, hating my life, wishing ill on New Bern in general or any other sordid things.

I just miss my old life.

I miss Raleigh/Cary. 

I miss my house. It wasn't huge, new, or anything super special. But, I had my own kitchen. My own living room. I paid bills. I went to the store. I cooked for myself. I could walk around naked if the mood so struck me. It was my space. My whole house. I miss that.

I miss, in particular, a certain person that I used to live with. I miss always having someone to hang out with. Someone to eat dinner with...someone to cook me fabulous foodie meals straight from our famous chef friend. I miss sharing doggie-detail. I miss randomly making Cook-Out/ Little Caesar/ Sushi  runs at night.

I miss working at the coffee shop. Sure, I bitched non stop about it while I was there. But legit- I had some awesome times working there. I miss making fancy overpriced beverages with legally addictive stimulants. I miss showing up for work at six in the evening...or being DONE with work by 11 am. I miss (some of) the people that I worked with. (seriously). And I especially miss making fun of the people that I DIDN'T like with the people that I did like. (I know I'm a horrible person, yeah yeah yeah.)

I miss my DVR- and those of you who are used to that kind of unconditional loving from a machine stamped by Time Warner Cable will feel me on this one.

I miss having a place to go shopping- to the movies- ice skating. Having more than three choices of restaurant was pretty awesome.

I miss Meredith. Yeah, we were all holding our breath to get out of that place- but I would go back in a heartbeat. I made so many great friends there. I discovered who I really am  while I was there. I miss knowing that my best friends were just across the hall/the suite/town.

I know that there were reasons for me being where I am. I do Trust the Universe after all.And I am so grateful for the many friends I've made and the colleagues that have helped me through my first year in my big-girl job.

I guess I'm just looking to the past to try and figure out what comes next.