I thought this city belonged to someone else forever.
Every street seemed to lead back to memories I couldn’t outrun. Every café, every train platform, every walk felt like an echo of a life I’d lost.
This weekend reminded me that cities don’t belong to people. They become chapters.
I didn’t come here expecting anything except a day with someone kind. We laughed. Built LEGO. Ate good food. Talked for hours. The day surprised both of us in ways neither of us planned.
For the first time since Iza, I realized something important.
Moving forward isn’t betrayal.
It isn’t forgetting.
It isn’t deleting the people who changed you.
It’s allowing yourself to discover that your heart is still capable of making new memories without destroying the old ones.
As I sat over a full Irish breakfast this morning, I realized I wasn’t trying to replace the past anymore. I was simply living in the present.
That’s a very different feeling.
Kraków will always hold part of my story with Iza. Nothing will ever change that.
But now it also holds something else.
Hope.
And after everything that’s happened over the last few years, I think that’s enough.
I’ll take hope.