Dear Ladies and Gents and so on and so forth,
I am scared. In fact I'm damn near petrified. I am starting a brand new life with one of my oldest friends. I love him dearly, always have in fact. I am leaving a city I have lived in for the last 12 years of my life for this man. I mentioned previously that I go into change kicking and screaming. Not this time, this time my heart is frantic until I contemplate my surroundings, then it becomes calm again. I love him. This is a fact.
   I have all but settled in to a domestic setting. Cooking, cleaning, organizing. On Monday I will start my new job and in the next couple months, I will be moved out of my old city completely.
   I recall watching the lights of my old city appear over the horizon one night when I came there the first time.  That was 15 years ago. You know that song Small Town Girl/Don't Stop Believing/Midnight Train by Journey? Yeah, that's what I was. The lights of the city awed me and from there I knew nothing could possibly go terribly wrong.
   I was wrong. My years in my old city were painful, unsatisfying and unfulfilling. I never gained a career, a permanent family or any of these things that people either lament or are very happy in. I was always a shadow, flitting from situation to situation in an effort to hold a part of that starry sky in my hand. There were moments where I could grasp it and for those moments, I would hold on to them like a last breath of air. That is why I stayed so long.
  As my love and I were taking the first load out to my home, I watched the lights of the old city slowly disappear behind me and breathed a sigh of relief. No longer do I have to try. I can now maintain a sense of anonymity and hermitism while still leading a life I would like to lead. That being said, I want to try and grow with him. I want there to be nothing lacking in both our lives and I have the power to do such things.
   For anyone reading this from the old city, thank you for the part you played in my life and I can only hope that I somehow made yours a tiny bit better. I love all of you in different ways and will continue to do so.