goodbye, sebring

 
Load the car and write the note; grab your bag and grab your coat. Tell the ones that need to know: we are headed north.

- The Avett Brothers, “I and Love and You”

I didn’t used to like this place. What are swampy flatlands and mucky lakes compared to magnificent snowcapped mountains and clear glacier water? Why choose a place of perpetual summer when there’s an option for the scent of fallen leaves in the frost or the sound of gurgling water after a spring thaw?

But I have learned that places are more than what they look like or feel like. Incredible vistas that are completely deserted can be places of deep reflection and worship for a time, but even an introvert like me needs more than that. Places need people. And that’s one thing that Sebring does have—some of the best people I’ve ever met. They’re my family away from family, and the more I know, love, and learn from them, the more beauty this place takes on.

I’m going to miss it.

Goodbye, Sebring and all the wonderful people within. Goodbye, sunny southeastern United States. Hopefully I’ll be back.