farewell dallas

Haven't blogged in months cuz we have been sooo busy being employed, unemployed, vacationing and moving across the country!!!

Preston and I quit our jobs on July 7, packed up our apartment and left the morning of July 8 for Vancouver, Canada. Amidst cleaning our apartment, packing up our car and throwing out what felt like half of our belongings, a peaceful protest in response to the deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling was held across the street from our apartment. I can't emphasize enough the word peaceful- families with young children, teenagers, adults and law enforcement made up the crowd. We left downtown to drop our car off at a friend's house and took a Lyft back home to finish packing and cleaning. A few hours had gone by and we went downstairs to put things in the dumpster and saw all our neighbors gathered in the lobby and outside of our building. They warned us not to go outside and to be careful. Confused, we asked what was going on. We thought maybe the protest had gotten a little rowdy or maybe even violent. That's when the terrible events of July 7 unfolded from different neighbors accounts. We watched outside while scrolling Twitter learning new awful facts every few minutes. 

Peaceful protesting early evening July 7.

Five police officers were killed and seven officers and two civilians were injured in the shooting. It was an act of hate and senseless violence so shortly after two innocent young men lost their lives. It was a terrible way to leave the city we called home for the last three years. I am thankful for the service of the Dallas Police Department and admire their bravery and strength in the face of such tragedy. 

Our street a little after first shots were fired.

I didn't love Dallas. It was way too hot, there wasn't anything to do outside and I couldn't for the life of me understand the in-your-face loyalty and pride Texans had for their state. Despite all these things, Dallas will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the first place we ever called home. We left all our best friends and packed up everything we owned in our little Civic and drove to this blazing hot city in the middle of summer. We made amazing friends in Dallas. We got our first real grown-up jobs in Dallas. We grew together in Dallas and it will always be one of our cities.

July 8 right before going to the airport.