I know for a fact that this week will simultaneously be one of the most fun and strangest weeks of my life.  Considering I’m leaving the place I have lived for the past two and a half years and what now feels like home to head back to my childhood home, these feelings should be understood.

This week is dedicated to a mixture of lasts and firsts.  Sunday, I had my last cold press coffee and banana and Nutella crepe at Bradbury’s.  I will have my last shift at my summer job.  I will enter Memorial Library for the last time to return the key from my study carrel.  I will spend my last night at my apartment.  I will have one last beer at the Memorial Union Terrace and have one last sunset over Lake Mendota.

But there will also be firsts to celebrate as well.  I will have my first drive across the state to my new/old home.  I will have first meals, drinks, and experiences at places I have been waiting to go to in Madison.  Even though I have already had my first night’s sleep in the dining room of my apartment (I’m currently sleeping on a futon as close to the air conditioning as possible), there are still more firsts left for me in the city.

Not to mention the other number of firsts that are headed my way.  I will have a first job in my career, my first apartment on my own, and my first meal in my apartment.  I will have new firsts and new restaurants, stores, and schools.  Although the impending lasts are sad, I’m more excited about the firsts that are yet to come my way.

There are first dates, first kisses, first pages, first days, weeks, months, years.  There are so many firsts that are coming up in my life that I must continue to work towards those amazing opportunities.

Enjoying my last time at Bradbury’s.

If you’re at similar crossroads as I am, just remember to keep working towards those new firsts.  You just never know when it may be your last first.