Continental Shift

It's no secret that I love New York City right down to the center of my being. I've lived in London and in Saginaw. I've visited Edinburgh, Dublin, Athens, Paris, Detroit, Chicago, both Portlands, Seattle, Boston and probably some others. I've lived in a small(ish) town, too. New York, as I all too often note, is just right for me.

I'm writing this next to an electrical outlet I'm prepared to defend with my life in the Detroit airport. My plane came in early and to the same concourse from which our flight to Shanghai departs. Queen Bee has been delayed about an hour, something about a bolt, then she'll make her way to me and, I hope, we'll have a meal before we hunker down gateside to wait. I'll admit that it's starting to feel real now. Until I heard the landing gear come down above the Motor City it didn't quite.

I'm going to Shanghai. I'll visit a lifelong friend who has been living there for a while now. I'll get a taste for what that feels like. We'll visit Beijing, doing mostly the touristy things but, surely, getting to know the city a tiny bit at the very least.

I expect that New York, Brooklyn especially, will always feel like mine. How will I know, though, if I don't keep trying other cities? It's not lost on me that I am so lucky to have this opportunity.

For weeks people have been asking me, "Are you excited for your trip?" and I've had to make excuses for my lack of feeling. The logistics of pets and houses and job and my own brain pulled focus. Maybe that's not "right" but it's how I am whether I'm headed across town or across the world. I'm not broken though.

I'm excited now. I can't wait to see what happens next!