Have you ever had to force yourself to wake up, to survive the day even when you don't want to? That is how Megan had been living for months now.
Megan knew moving would be hard, but she had no idea it would be this hard. Leaving her childhood home was destroying her life. The logical part of her mind kept telling her to suck it up, but she never listened. She missed home too much.
Feeling overwhelmed, she collapsed on her bed and mentally ran through the list of things that she had left behind: two dogs who had become part of the family; 3 children that she loved as her own; a house she had grown up in; a culture; groups of friends she loved to hang out with; 3 best friends, one from childhood, one her boyfriend; ...her boyfriend!
Here she broke down and sobbed. She missed him so much. Although the two had promised to keep in touch as closely as possible, he was overrun with long hours of work and was unable to talk to her more than once a week. A torrent of memories from the last few days they had spent together flooded her mind.
"You are taking my heart with you," he had told Megan as he held her.
"But...I am leaving my heart here with you," she answered softly, looking into his eyes for the last time.
It was true. By the time she had crossed the country, she felt a hollow in her chest as if her heart had been physically torn out.
The tears now streaming down her face, she recalled how they had gotten to know each other so well. They had joked that they could read each other's mind, and really they could. She knew him so well that she could predict what he was going to say next.
She imagined him sitting next to her on the bed. She knew exactly what he would do. He would look at her longingly and wipe the tears gently off her face. He would tell her that it would be all right because he still loved her. Then he would wrap his big arms around her and hold her tight.
She wiped the tears from her own eyes; he wasn't there. He was still a thousand miles away. In the end, Megan knew he would prove right. It would be all right because he still loved her.
She stood up, brushed off her soggy clothes, wiped her face and smiled. Yes, today she would survive.