#67: "leaving las vegas"

I remember leaving Richmond. I was headed to grad school in Florida, and I was the first of my core social group to get out. We had a big dinner shindig at one of my favourite RVA spots. I got to see almost everyone one last time before I went; and to be honest it was the last time I saw a number of the friends I had there. The ones that are important are still here, the rest have had their orbit slowly elongate and become more comet-like, passing by once in a great while until never again.

It was really hard to leave. I spent many formative years there. Yet the time always comes when you gotta move on or risk never moving. I knew I could always come back if moving failed, so there was nothing to lose.

I landed in New York in 2011. When I came down from Maine to interview for my job I knew 1 person. I met her husband later that night at dinner. They took me down to Schiller's and they wouldn't let me pay anything (it's not like I had much money then anyway). 

Later when I moved here for good they let me couch surf in their apartment for a month while I found an apartment. They even introduced me to my then roommate. They were the first people to convince me to really give karaoke a go - so much so that one of my first weekends here included us going out to a karaoke bar just off Times Square to a private room where they'd bought a special with unlimited drinks. We sang ourselves hoarse and then somehow all very blackout drunk wandered home through that neon hellscape of tourists and traffic. I'd been in town maybe 72 hours. To this day I still have no idea how I made it home.

They've been my go to for answers to random questions about the city. They've been there through moving to Brooklyn. They were in our wedding where we made them read part of the John Prine song "In Spite Of Ourselves" in front of 150 people, mostly strangers. They got me in to the best Halloween parties I've ever been to - and they take costumes VERY seriously. 

But that time is up. They're moving to California, like you do. My cousin Leslie got a job out there, and her husband Don is in the process of joining her on the left coast. If nothing else, I know he's excited about the surfing, but I know he's excited about more than just the waves. They'd been in New York much longer, and they could see the graffiti on the wall. It was time for them to have that one last dinner at the karaoke bar, close out, and move on.

I'm going to miss them not being in town. Busy lives meant we never saw each other as much as we'd like, but there is security in knowing that when you need someone, they're just a subway ride away (delays or not). I hope everyone's got someone like that wherever they live. If not, you might think about leaving.