A New Beginning

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined."
~ Henry David Thoreau

Hey guys! Well here I am, doing what I have always done best...writing. It is a passion that I have indulged since I was about 12. It helped me escape the pain of my mother dying, and as a result, I realized that I had a gift, one that I have embraced my whole life. When I moved from Riverside, California to Tucson, Arizona in 1997, I continued to write since the rebellious teenager in me still had a lot of pain suppressed inside, and it came out on the paper with supreme precision. Over the years, unfortunately, I have slipped away from my writing. I took a couple of classes at the community college in Tucson back in 2007 that helped bring me back into it, but unfortunately, the reality of life kicked in once again and I was diverted away from my true passion. Not long after we got settled in here in the Sacramento area, my wife suggested I start a blog to not only keep me busy while looking for a job, but to also just get back into my writing. She knows me too well.

Over the last week, I suffered from some severe home sickness, which I unfortunately let consume me at a rather unhealthy level. Thankfully, I have some amazing friends and family who took the time to talk me through these issues. I had a few sleepless nights, missed a few meals, but I did make it through. There were a lot of walks around the apartment complex with my dog, and a lot of long phone calls, but in the end, I conquered. Now I know that these feelings will never fully go away. Tucson is where I grew up. As a very close friend told me just today, that city shaped me into what I am now, so there is always going to be a bond. What I must do now is find a way to move forward. Once a life has been built here, those memories of Tucson will become that of fondness, not sadness. I have my lovely and amazing wife, my precious little dog, and her family to be my support system. I also have plenty of other friends and family scattered all over that are there for me when I need them.

So here we are, a new day has come. I've got this incredible city in front of me, so much to explore, so much to learn. I've got an old friend from high school that lives here, works at the zoo. Not only will I get to see her for the first time in nearly twenty years, but it will also be fun to take my nephew to see some amazing animals. I also, through a fantastic act of serendipity, ran into one of my childhood friends on Facebook shortly before moving up here, and discovered that she and her family live only about an hour away from us. I am about a month away from seeing a long lost sister that I haven't seen in like 22 years! Insanity! But the best part about this move... I get to see my wife happier than she has ever been. For as long as I have known her, she has wanted to always be near family that loves her, all of the time. She gets that now. It has been worth the sacrifice of uprooting our lives and leaving all that we knew, in order to see the smile on her face everyday when she gets a hug from our precious little nephew, Evan.

A lot of amazing things are ahead of me here in my new home. My wife's Aunt and Uncle live only about an hour and a half away from us. They were the main reason that we chose this city as our new home. They are absolutely incredible people. I couldn't imagine my life without them. They are coming this weekend for the Super Bowl (GO BRONCOS!), and bringing their kayaks down for a little trip down lake Natoma, which is just down the street from us. There will be plenty of fun things like this in the near future. In the Spring I am even going to go fishing for the first time! Yes, you heard me right, 35 years old, and I have never been fishing. #howcanthishappeninamerica It's been a tough couple of months getting from Tucson to here. Over 900 miles in just two days. But we've pretty much settled in. Everyone is developing their routines, and we're making it our happy new home. The rest will fall into place later.