It's all in the one word
That stops and steals the time
Goodbye
Tracy Chapman

And she leaves. She will be back someday but it will be different. She will appreciate the lake when she drives by it. Dunn Bros. and the State Park and biking around the lake and Harmony...they will all be crammed into a weekend or a vacation, no longer part of her daily life. She will stay with friends or in a motel. This will no longer be her home.
For a while she will drift. From apartment to dorm, back to apartment. From city to city...starting over more times than she has prepared herself for.
She will leave behind people she would love to take with her and she will cry many tears for all the memories she's made with them. She hates this about herself - the crying part...but it's part of who she is and she's learned to accept it.
She's ready to leave and excited about the future. It's been her dream for years now and she's thisclose to it being her reality. She's ready to prepare and grow and learn and succeed.
A year from now her life will be very different.
In the midst of all the apprehension that comes with change, her soul know it's about time.