Hello. Goodbye.

I love change. It’s been that way all my life.

When I was in nursery school, I desperately wanted to get a haircut before class pictures. When my mom said no, I grabbed a pair of scissors and chopped it off myself. Needless to say, my parents weren’t thrilled about my uneven, half-inch-long bangs.

When I was a skinny 11-year-old, I always wanted to make improvements in my room. Since I couldn’t paint the walls or buy new curtains, I settled for just moving things around. I constantly rearranged all of my furniture, including a full-sized canopy bed that was easily two to three times heavier than I was. After a long, exhausting day, I was finally satisfied – for a few months at least.

Today, I am much the same way. But lately, my changes have been bigger than just trying a new hairstyle or moving furniture around. In the last two years, I’ve moved clear across the country – twice.

Change can be scary, but I tend to feel excited more than anything. When I first moved to Los Angeles, everyone said I was crazy. With no money, no job, no car and no place to live, most people thought I was doomed for failure. But I wasn’t. Not even close.

Turns out, all I needed was a positive outlook and carefree attitude because everything just sort of fell into place. It didn’t take long before I fell in love with the palm trees, beaches, blue skies and sunshine. Who wouldn’t want to wear sandals and eat ice cream year round?

As a new college graduate, California was exactly the kind of change I needed. Most of my friends were moving away, ready to start their careers, while I was getting bored with the familiarity of the city and feeling very unsure of what I wanted in the years (or even months) to come. California offered a change of scenery and new challenges to distract me from the uncertainties of my rapidly approaching future in the “real world.” And so I was very excited (and only a little apprehensive) to meet new people, experience a new culture, and even feel my very first earthquake.

Now, nearly two years later, I’m planning another move – this time closer to the people who mean the most to me. But as much as I love change, I’m still sad to say goodbye.