I thought you were too different for me. Too hot, too sprawling, too intense. I thought I would always be on the outside, appreciating from afar but never really belonging. And yet, here I am, writing you a love letter.
For more than nine years, I lived on the Big Island of Hawaii. It was beautiful, but it was also isolating. Paradise can be lonely when you’re hungry for more. I wanted to see more people, more places, more things, so when I finally decided to leave, I promised myself I would step into a bigger life.
This was the summer I thrived in your heat. Not just survived, thrived. The kind of thriving that comes from leaning into 110-degree days, finding shade where I could, letting the sun sharpen me instead of chase me indoors. I thought the heat would break me, but instead it became the backdrop of a life that felt brand new.
It was also the summer I celebrated a milestone birthday, one I thought would feel heavier than it did. Instead it felt expansive, like a doorway I got to walk through. I started prioritizing travel again, hopping from Tamarindo, Costa Rica to Mendoza, Argentina, exploring South America and a blur of back and forth from Austin to the Big Island. Every trip added a new layer, every passport stamp a reminder that reinvention is something you can practice anywhere.
This was the summer I fell in love with the JuiceLand Wundershowzen, proof that peanut butter, banana and spinach are a masterpiece. The summer I fell in love with rivers and lakes that stretched out like invitations, reminding me that water is not just for cooling off, it is for starting over. The summer I fell in love with food that insists on being bold, messy, deliciously unpretentious. The summer I fell in love with people so kind, they remind you instantly that community is not something you find, it is something that welcomes you.
I did not fall in love love. Not that kind. But I did fall for a city that feels alive in every corner. I found my perfect neighborhood, the one that feels like it sees me back. I began the process of starting over, built something new from the ground up, made friends who feel like future family, rekindled old friendships that feel like they had been waiting for me to return.
This summer, you gave me a crash course in being Texan, and in being Austinite. They are not the same thing, but together they are everything: resilient, quirky, warm, generous, ambitious, weird, and wonderful.
I love how there is something for everyone here. The music that fills the air, the art on the walls, the quiet moments by the water, the loud ones in crowded rooms. The big sky that makes you dream bigger. The tacos that make you slow down and savor. You have taught me that love does not always look like what you expect. Sometimes it looks like a city, a state and a community you never imagined would feel like home.
And yes, I checked off some Austin bucket list items along the way. Barton Springs after sunset? Check. Dancing until my feet hurt? Check. Boating Lake Austin and Lake Travis like I had nowhere else to be? Check. Maybe the biggest one: giving myself permission to start over. That was not just an Austin bucket list moment, that was a life one.
If Austin feels like the place you want to start over too, I’d love to help you find your footing here. I’m Amber Haley, a Realtor® in Austin, and I can connect you with the right home and the right people.