There is a famous quote from John Donne, "No man is an island." I have been thinking about this a lot because of my decision to leave Hawaii and move to Denver, Colorado.
The decision to leave my current work was actually pretty easy. They have been promising to promote me for quite some time, but yet I see no results. A couple weeks ago I asked my boss when I was going to start training and he gave me such an arbitrary answer, that I decided enough was enough. I am a college graduate working part time in a kitchen, it is time for me to find a real job.
But those who know me are quite baffled by my decision to move to Denver. Most of them I give the basic answer of that is where a lot of companies are hiring right now. In fact I already have quite a few interviews lined up for when I move. Then again I am confident enough in myself and my abilities that I could find employment in anywhere, well, at least any big city. This answer, though, is just partly correct. I mean since when do we have only one reason to do something?
The deeper meaning to why I chose to move to Denver comes from the quote I mentioned earlier from John Donne, "No man is an island." (This actually comes from a poem that he wrote that I decided not to include because it seems to be more about death.) We are all tied to other people around us, family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, etc. Some of these ties are stronger than others, and as I continue to progress in life I start to see how quickly and effortlessly these ties can be broken and forgotten. So if there are people in our lives that we want to be continuously tied to, we have to do something about that. We have to make a conscious effort to stay tied together.
This got me thinking, who do I want to be connected with? If I am going to be sharing my life and even my identity with other people, who do I want them to be?
My family. (Sorry my Mormon is coming out.) I grew up used to having family live far away. There is a nine year gap between my oldest sister and myself, so my clearest memories come from when she was already in college. So being far away from my siblings and my parents never has really been that big of a deal. But something happened this year at Christmas. I spent about a week at my sister's house, trying to spend as much time with my niece and nephew as I could. I fell in love with them, and I miss them terribly. I definitely want to be close to my family, but more so with my niece and nephew than anyone else. They don't live in Denver, but they live in Salt Lake, which is a cheap flight away from a fun weekend with their uncle.
The nice thing too is that my brother lives in Salt Lake too. (Like I said my Mormon is coming out.) We were never that close as kids, but after high school we got really close. We bond through gaming (cards, video, boards, sports, etc.) even when we suck at it, and watching and quoting Family Guy. We are the only ones in our family that speak Spanish, so we have fun with that. We even used to live together. Ever since I moved out here we don't talk as much, and I miss that. He got married a couple months ago, and I don't really know his wife that well. That is something that I plan to change when I move.
But what about my friends? I have gotten to know so many people in my time here, but no one is staying. My old roommate, who was my roommate the entire time I was at school here, is moving back to Taiwan at the end of this year. All of my current roommates that I have gotten close to are moving out in May, most of them permanently like me. I can go on and on, but the point is that I am not the only one leaving, so I don't feel like I am leaving anyone behind.
And I do have one friend in Denver. I have already talked about this friend and what she means to me on here quite a bit. So I will limit today to just saying, her friendship is worth fighting for.
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