And Lord, have things changed.
It's hard. A lot harder than I thought it would be. And it's been nearly a month! Just when I think the roller coaster is slowing down, I find myself facing a new hurdle. I long for the simple slopes of Norton: the well anticipated challenges of la rentrée (return to school), the domestic conflicts, the lifeguard gossip, the same people with the same stories that I've known since preschool.
And none of that is really gone, per se. My old teachers are introducing a new batch of seniors to the easiest year of their high school careers, the laundry is still being left in the dryer overnight (accidentally, of course), the lifeguards still roll their eyes from time to time, and my friends are still alive, their pasts unchanged.
But these things won't stay the same forever. They won't even stay the same long enough for me to go back to them - and even if they did, they would be fundamentally different. They are - they feel - a world away.
So I'm here, searching for what's the same.
Playlist:
Human, The Killers
Cough Syrup, Young the Giant
Elle me dit, Mika
Somebody That I Used to Know, Gotye
Welcome to the Jungle, Guns N' Roses
Welcome to the Jungle, Guns N' Roses