Here it is, 1 month until I’m in Boston. 1 month until I begin my penultimate year. 1 month until I become a permanent resident of the Northeast (well, sort of permanent). 1 month and the end is in sight.

I began this website exactly 4 years ago, and in that inaugural post I said that this page was the beginning of a conversation. Sometimes I’ve had a lot to say, at others I’ve felt it best to bite my tongue. For 4 years, this conversation has covered topics as far ranging as music and feminism, science and religion, conspiracy theories and stand-up comedy, and almost everything in between.

In the last 4 years, Obama was re-elected president, Superstorm Sandy decimated a region of the US, Boston was attacked, Osama Bin Laden was killed, the economy has rebounded (moderately), millions of people have died, millions have been born.

In the last 4 years, my goal has turned from a restless case of wanderlust into an actual literary project with national exposure.

I’ve crossed 8 cities off the list and all I have between me and that magical, mystical myth, NYC, is Beantown.

I don’t know how I’ll feel exactly a year from now when I’m writing the final “Count the days” post. Excited, surely, just as I am excited to move to Boston. Maybe a little terrified, too? Frightened by the thought that after almost a decade, the longest event of my life is coming to a conclusion. Of course, every move comes with it its share of terror. I’ve gotten pretty good at this and I definitely make less mistakes in the process than I did when I was first starting out. But every move brings unknowns, as well, the intangibles that can’t be planned ahead of time.

11 months after being in this city, I’m not sure what I thought would happen in New Orleans but it didn’t turn out like I expected, I know that much.

Will Boston? I’m not even sure I could tell you what I’m expecting. A metropolis? Sure, but what does that mean? The usual concerns are there (especially considering that I’m moving from a city with one of the lowest costs of living in the country to one of the most expensive), but it’s everything I don’t know about Boston that will be the biggest roadblocks. All the research in the world is nothing compared to the actual experience.

Which, come to think of it, is why I started this project in the first place.

So, 1 month.

It’s been a long conversation, but there’s still more to say.