One hand was gripped tightly around the handle of her suitcase, bringing out the paleness of her skin, while the other was stuffed in the pocket of her jacket as she studied the city she had called home for ever. In all her twenty five years here she had never once regretted her choice of staying. She had moulded into the city. It was her anchor, it was her home.
Her mind wandered as she dawdled down Marlborough Street, retracing the steps she’d taken many times before and following the memories, good and bad, that spun around in her mind. She thought about when she was just a child running up this very street clutching onto a balloon, chasing after her brother as their mother yelled at them to slow down. She even remembered the dress she was wearing that day they had just gone to the carnival with her cousin. That dress, if she remembered correctly, was then passed down to the child of her cousin. She remembered when she was about twelve and had her first kiss on Ha’penny Bridge, going over the Liffey, with a that skinny little boy Peter. Or was it Patrick? Everything from her childhood up until just a few years ago, when she walked into Trinity College for the first time, was flooding back to her. Her whole life was in this city and she was leaving. It saddened her to leave everything, and everyone she knew. But she would make friends, and have a good time in this new place, wherever it was.
She made it to the end of the road near the river just as it started to snow. As she saw the flakes start to fall past her, her favourite Joyce quote popped into her head, “snow was general all over Ireland”. It scared her that she had no idea where she would be the next day, it could be London, New York or even Beijing. But that was all part of the fun, she could start over there. That part excited her the most. She stood there for a long time. Just thinking. After a few minutes of staring out at the snow blanketed city, she set off towards the bus station. Just as the bus pulled up to take her off on a new adventure, she turned around to get one last look at her city and to say goodbye. She opened her mouth and she realized that she wasn’t saying goodbye, because saying goodbye meant going away, and going away meant forgetting and she would definitely not forget her life here. It was all she had and she would hang on to it for as long as she could.
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