Kindred

Let's talk about the word kindred for a moment. According to my trusty dictionary.com, the definition of kindred reads as follows:

n. A group of related persons, as a clan or tribe.
adj. Having a similar or related origin, nature, or character

When thinking about making a move like the one I am considering, you can't help but think about who you have around you and what significance they have in your life. One must also consider who will be around them in this new city that can take the place of those being left behind.

My kindred currently is split into 3 factions, all with positives and negatives attached. I'm not going to bother explaining the differences and the ups and downs of all of them, but I do think it is worth mentioning that I'm certain I will miss everyone equally despite how I think about the individuals in each group.

Kindred 1 consists of my mates. My loyal friends and travelling partners. I sincerely hope that I will give each of them a new travel destination, a place that they can visit and let me be the host. Although many of my friends have moved on into the marriage and child rearing arena, they are still some of the best people I have known. To put up with the likes of me you have to be a special breed, and these guys are.

Kindred 2 is the familia. The clan that is my family is very large and consuming, but each member adds something to my life that will be hard to replace. You sometimes tire of family functions, as I do, but when you don't have the contact day in and day out, I'm sure it gets hard. I'm dreading that first time I'll want to go see my baby sister or my sister's kids or my brother's band or my other brother's new house or hang out with my sisters and I won't be able to. I take them for granted, this I am well aware of, but I think my siblings have all turned into amazing adults and will be fine without me. Plus I know that each of them knows that I am always someone they can turn to no matter the circumstances.

Kindred 3, believe it or not, is made up of the faces I see each and every day at work. The people that I am surrounded by are so unique, inspirational, talented and friendly. Every work place has idiots, but for the most part I consider myself lucky that I get to be around such cool people all the time. I'm going to miss that element of the workplace when I move. You just can't expect to replace city people with country people and have it be the same. There are going to be a lot of losses, but I'm open to meeting new people that may help me expand my horizons.

Along these lines of kindred and the people in my life, I think that there are a couple of people right now that I consider to be kindred spirits. These are people that I feel connected with. There is a nature about them that makes me feel a stronger sense of connectedness than I do to others. In particular there is a girl named Kate that works for me that I really feel as though will be hard to replace once I move away. Despite our age difference, we get along incredibly. I look at her as the manifestation of what I want to have in a good friend. She's smart, witty, obnoxious....just like me. I will hope that our friendship can survive this type of situation, but I know it will be hard. Distance is rough on people's relationships with one another. Add in that we have only know each other for a relatively short time, I'm not sure that our bond is as strong as it could be if we were to be around each other for another year or two or three. I can only say that I really hope that she and I can be friends for a long, long time. She's the best. And I'm gonna miss her.

Prepare yourself for reflections like this in the coming weeks. I'm in a really weird state right now trying to figure out the rest of my life and how I want it to go down. I'm just moving away not dying is a phrase I keep repeating in my head. But I have this urge to kind of put things out in the open....

I think I need to spend the next couple of weeks letting the people I care about know that I do. So watch out!

You could be next!