I babysat this cute kid Nico all summer. He is one and a half, and when his dad left for work or when a truck drove by the window, Nico would say "buh-bye baba" or "buh-bye auto." Always. We would be walking down the street and pass a dog, and I wouldn't even notice, but Nico would say good-bye to it. Or sometimes if he was having a bad day, Nico would scream and cry and cling on to his mom when she tried to leave, but then 10 minutes later he had forgotten about it and was happily cooking wooden blocks in his pots on the carpet.

Today I left California. The last few days, I tried to take in the atmosphere that is Davis, that feels like home no matter where else I go. And in a way say goodbye to the wide oak-lined streets and the route I always run through the arboretum and smell of the sanitizer in the back of KetMoRee. Now I'd like to forget that I won't be back to California for 8 months and that I won't miss all of my friends and family from Davis, and happily cook on my European carpet.