Yes, that is indeed true. Sorry it’s taken me so long to discover and respond to this comment.

All the best,

Cassandra

Back in 2008, I came across your blog post via a blog from Alli Rogers and what you said on this post really spoke to me. At the time, I was leaving a place that I had fallen in love with and so I tweaked your words to fit my situation. The text is as follows:
—–
As I prepare to leave, I can’t help but feel lost and homeless and empty. I should be happy, I should be sad. I can’t seem to fit an entire year of memories into two suitcases. I can’t pack up my life here easily.

Why, and how, do we become attached to places? What difference does place make? Of what concern is the angle of the street, or of the light as it comes through the windows in the afternoons? What does it matter that this is the floor plan, with the bedrooms just here, and the windows this way so that, when you sit on this sofa on a cloudy afternoon and you’ve curled up with a cup of tea and a book and are napping and it begins to rain, you feel suddenly surrounded by the rain on all sides, and you put your book down and just watch it slowly come down on the hydrangeas?

The magpie’s cry will sound the same from the back garden of another flat. The wind will simply rustle the leaves of different trees. But I will not be here to watch the pigeons swoop over the Tyne when it is lit up at night, or to watch the cat on the wall through the kitchen sink window.

It’s strange to me, despite my twenty-four odd years, despite my own sense of practicality, and intelligence, and reason, the things we can and cannot keep.
—–

In late 2009, I submitted the piece to expatlit.com (now jcdugan.com) and it was accepted for inclusion in the project (It was not “published” and I did not receive any compensation for it) but with the recent news of the RWA treasurer and her plagiarism charges, I've been worried that this may be plagiarism as well. It was not my intention to copy someone else's work, and I truly apologize if you feel that I have. Like Alli, I merely changed your words it to fit my circumstances when I need to express an emotion and couldn't find words of my own.

I've already contacted JC and have asked for it's removal from the project, regardless if you agree it might be plagiarism or not. Again, all apologies.

All the best,

Cassandra