Last week, as I was getting rid of, selling, and packing all of my belongings, I discovered a simple way to describe exactly what was happening in my life...
My key chain has always been heavy and overwhelmingly filled with keys-- in Seattle, I had 2 keys to my apartment, 2 mailbox keys, 2 keys to my best friends' apartment, car keys, and a PCC shopping card. Personally, I liked having a large set of keys because I could always find it in my purse or apartment and somehow it made me feel secure-- I knew I had a home (or 2 or 3), a reliable mode of transportation (= freedom), and ties to other comforts and pleasures (such as organic produce at the PCC) in Seattle.
One by one, as I relinquished each key, I realized that I was simultaneously giving up all the things that I believed had made me feel safe and secure in Seattle. It began with my apartment, my car was next, then both mailbox keys, and ended with my friends' apartment keys (where I stayed until departure to Pennsylvania).
What was surprising to me was that while I did feel a sense of sadness at leaving everything behind, I also felt liberated. I had shed most of my Seattle life, I no longer had keys to anything and there was basically no material thing left to tie me down. My keychain didn't exist anymore because I had no keys!
In 4 days, when I arrive in Cambridge, I anticipate the new, albeit different, set of keys I'll acquire over my first couple of weeks-- 2 for Fossedene (my house), 1 for a bike lock (my new mode of transportation), probably a few to open the gates of St. John's College, and I know that there will be more that I am not even aware of yet.
New keys and a new start.
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