With a sting in the tail

We’re approaching the last few pages of this chapter in Frankfurt.

The countdown is on. I can’t help but think of how many days until Chicago (11 days), and as I go to favorite places, I keep thinking that this will be the last time I go shopping here or the last time I’ll have a cup of tea there. Certainly we’ll be back for visits. Frankfurt is a great place to stop on the way to other European destinations from the States, but when we do so, we’ll be visitors not residents.

So we’re wrapping things up, and in doing so I’ve been having coffees and drinks with the people I’ve met along the way. It’s a nice reminder of happy memories.

Transitions, transitions. Always some things left behind, and other things anticipated.
Truly Bittersweet.

Published by Valya

Valya Dudycz Lupescu has been making magic with food and words for more than 20 years, incorporating folklore from her Ukrainian heritage with practices that honor the Earth. She’s a writer, content developer, instructor, and mother of three teenagers. Valya is the author of MOTHER CHRISTMAS, THE SILENCE OF TREES, and the founding editor of CONCLAVE: A Journal of Character. Along with Stephen H. Segal, she is the co-author of FORKING GOOD: An Unofficial Cookbook for Fans of The Good Place and GEEK PARENTING: What Joffrey, Jor-El, Maleficent, and the McFlys Teach Us about Raising a Family (Quirk Books), and co-founder of the Wyrd Words storytelling laboratory. Valya earned her MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and her poetry and prose have been published in anthologies and magazines that include, The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Kenyon Review, Culture, Gargoyle Magazine, Gone Lawn, Strange Horizons, Mythic Delirium. You can find her on Twitter @valya and on Mastodon.social @valya

5 thoughts on “With a sting in the tail”

  1. hollyheartfree says:

    I know you’ve loved it there…saying goodbye is hard. But you are coming back to US!! Yeah

  2. shauna_aura says:

    W00t! I will be very excited to see you once you’re unpacked and settled back in 😀

    I hope the transition is smooth. Good luck with packing and the goodbyes!

  3. rowanhawkmoon says:

    Oh, Valya, when you return you won’t be a visitor, more of an alumna — you know the password and the secret handshake. Sure, you won’t have that heady rush when first falling in love with a new city or coffee house or quaint little shop like visitors. That will be replaced with a knowing of secrets … which lanes off a main street lead to hidden surprises, that the mocha latte at the coffee shop is to die for, that the shy salesgirl at that shop really knew what things to show you.

    Visitors become familiar; residents, even former ones, have an intimacy that can never be left behind.

    We’re waiting for you here, have a safe journey.

    — Rowan

  4. swampwitch says:

    Valya,
    I believe Frankfort is a Scorpio city. If so, it’s no small wonder you feel the sting. It’s always hard to leave a place, even if you’re pining for another place while you’re there. I think both places will be home for you and somehow I don’t think this will be the last time you see Germany. It will be very good to have you here though. Chicago needs your energy. We’ve missed you.

  5. carolekingirl says:

    If it helps… I’ve discovered that the only people that truely get left behind are the ones that want to….
    .
    Hopefully the place won’t change too much before you visit again..

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