See you later

I stand in the dark kitchen of my mothers apartment at 11:11 pm eating chocolate and wishing for everyone's happiness. there's only one more day here, in this hot desert state. 

this awful place that I hated living in and never wanted to call it my home as a child. the place I grew up and went through the toughest trials of my entire life. the place that I learned, and loved, and grew. I'm here, right now. In that place. And after tomorrow it will no longer be my home. It will never be my home again. 

The possession of such a place, a home, is fleeting. That is probably the thing I have lived and learned the most in my last couple of years. But home was always where I was going next. A friend's house, a parent's apartment, a hotel room at a convention... it changed day to day.

And now, a dorm room. A small room with a new friend where I will do all of my sleeping. 

But not all of my living. I will have my new city for that. 

New people. 

New friends means a new family.

But never my only family.

Just another.

The family I have here, back in the desert, will always have been my first real family. 

The one I met at school, or on the bus, or at a convention.

They'll always be the dearest to my heart.

And that is why I will always come back.

Until every last one has found their path and moved on, I will come back.

And even then, it won't be over.

Because you'll always have your family.

And they are mine.

I'm not saying goodbye, because it isn't goodbye. 

It's only "see you later".