On this last day

It’s Sunday evening, and I’m sitting in a living room full of boxes. Tomorrow, we move to Nashville.

Indianapolis has been good to me over the last five years. It’s funny to look back and realize that my life has changed almost completely since 2010, in ways I would have never predicted. I got married, I’ve gained new friends and lost old ones, and I’ve made significant moves in my career. I’ve experienced the saddest days of my life here, and I’ve been blessed with incalculable joys.

As I head south tomorrow, I’ll carry with me a full heart. Thanks to all of you who have shaped my journey in Indianapolis. To those who have become true friends, thank you for loving me for exactly who I am. To all of you acquaintances, who greeted me at each concert or made small talk each time we ran into each other at the grocery store, thank you for making me feel known. To all of the little places around town that feel like “mine” – those stools at the end of the Coaches bar where Bryan and I fell in love, that table at the Brass Ring where we had a first date, that little blue house I owned in Broad Ripple, this old Italian neighborhood we’ve come to call home – thank you for providing me with little pieces of timelessness.

I am expectant for all that lies ahead for Bryan and me, for the new places we’ll grow to love and the new friends we’ll meet. I enter into this chapter with high hopes and an open heart. Nashville, we can’t wait to know you.

Indy, thanks for your kindness. You’ve been so good.