Nicole Week 3: A Chapter Closed

 It’s official, my parents have received an NIE number that will now allow us to buy property in Spain. A decision that was set in stone so fast, that I haven’t even acknowledged what this purchase entails in a broader sense. The new construction awaiting my family in Spain will undoubtedly be the close to the final chapter of my childhood. This claim may sound extreme, but Massachusettes is a preservation my childhood. This is not only a new summer home, but an illustration of a new chapter in my life. 

As some of you may already know, I moved from Massachusetts. After 8 years of growing up in Wellesley, my experiences there have certainly shaped who I am today. I am so incredibly lucky to have been able to meet the most amazing people who supported me relentlessly through thick and thin, granting me years worth of cherished memories that I will never forget and will relish forever. Just last year, we made the momentous decision to move to Florida, saying goodbye to my life in Wellesley and hello to Boca Raton! As much as I miss my friends and life in Wellesley, it comforted me to know that we still had our summer home in Falmouth, Cape Cod. This house was my only connection left to Massachusetts, a town that I have been visiting during the summers my entire life. Falmouth became a comfort destination, an alternate reality where all negativity was temporarily diminished. The annual moment I step into the car to leave the Cape for the school year, I am reminiscing the summer I just had and anticipating another summer of happiness that the Cape never fails to provide. The Cape was not only my last connection to the state I grew up in, but the only connection I still had to my childhood. As much as I am beyond grateful to have a new summer home in Spain, it replaces the summers in the Cape, crumbling the last bridge I had to my adolescence. What places have special meaning to you that you will always cherish?