Leaving Eugene

So, we are officially no longer Eugenians. I don't know that we actually ever considered ourselves true Eugenians. Having shed a lot of tears when we first arrived in Eugene, I never anticipated that I would cry leaving the place too, but I did. I blame some of it on pregnancy. It all started a few days before we left. I was putting Matthew down for a nap and explaining after his nap we would be visiting Aunt Mary for a last time in a while because we were moving soon. He asked, "Mama, why do we have to move?" and I proceeded to lose it. This was the first time that I really allowed myself to think about all the things that I would miss about Eugene. Here's a few of the things that I came up with while having a little sob during Matthew's nap:

1. Friday visits with Aunt Mary and Uncle Ken.
   
2. Parks - Eugene has the greatest parks, ones that Matthew loves. We had any number of great parks within walking distance.
3. Spencer View - our apartment was tiny, we didn't have closet doors, or a garbage disposal, or a dish washer, or real carpet; but we sure loved this place (most of the time). Matthew and I loved the playgrounds and being able to meet and talk to lots of different people from lots of different places.
   
4. Running and Biking trails - Eugene is such a great place to run, bike, and walk.
5. The Law School - I don't think that Jon would really agree with this one, but Matthew and I sure had fun there. Our first year Matthew and I would meet Jon at the law school for lunch at least a couple times a week. Matthew loved that place. He loved hiding in lockers, climbing the many stairs, riding the elevators, checking Jon's folder, drawing on the white boards, raising and lowering the spinning chairs, and peering into classrooms (sometimes while class was in session).
6. Friends - Fortunately, a lot of our friends left before or soon after us, so it really didn't feel like we were leaving too many people behind, but we really felt blessed to meet and make so many friends during our stay in Eugene.

I'm sure that I'm missing some things. Luckily the tears didn't last much beyond that day. It's always good to have a little cry anyway, right? In general, we've decided that it's just a little sad to leave behind an entire stage of life that we will always associate with Eugene. We are very excited about our future prospects and so thankful to be done with school, but we also realize that there were lots of benefits to being students. We've also been sad for Matthew, leaving behind the only home that he has ever known. Thankfully, he's pretty adaptable and he seems to mention missing things in Eugene less and less.