My God, I'm leaving...

It's been hitting me periodically, bursts of panic as I realize that yes, I am leaving home. And it just keeps getting sooner and sooner. My sister Elana will be moving into my room, so the contents of my closet are now in a box, and all my papers and mementos of the past years are stowed away. It's somewhat sad, somewhat frightening, somewhat overwhelming.


So, like I said I would, I'll talk a little bit about where I have lived for the past eleven years: Cortez.
Cortez is a little town in the southwest corner of Colorado, the type of town where people look at you blankly whenever you tell them it's where you live. It has around 8,000 people, and the only place people are at midnight on a Saturday is Wal-Mart.

But it's also full of friendly, warm people and beautiful scenery. For example, here's the view from our back porch:

It'll be pretty different from Linkebeek, Belgium, where I'll be within five days.