Regardless of whether you’re
first hearing about my move out of state or just looking for an update, I’m
finally at a point where I’m settled enough to take some time and record my
adventure so far. Before I get started, though, parts of this are going to be
fairly disheartening, but I assure that everything has worked out and settled
down at this point, so, don’t worry; we’ll get to that soon enough. I need to start the story from the beginning,
though, and explain the thought process that got me where I am.
In 2012, I made some tentative
plans to move to Florida
with a friend. She had wanted to make the move for a long time and had finally
been able to make some headway on saving a little cash to accomplish her goal.
She had asked about my interest in going a couple times in the past, but I was
never in a place financially where I could afford it, nor was I in a position
to leave whatever job I had at the time. Suffice it to say, I always seemed to
have something going on to keep me where I was.
I found myself in a different
position this past year. I had left the full time job I had held, my apartment
lease was running out, and things had really taken a slow turn in the area of
music performance opportunities. I was looking for work, but I was unable to
find anything that really interested me beyond having steady income. I have had
plenty of jobs that were just a source of income, but I wanted to find a career.
I had the chance to play with some great musicians, but I wasn’t finding enough
opportunities to play in general, and I wasn’t able to focus on the type of
music I really wanted to be performing. More importantly, I definitely wasn’t
finding an opportunity to make a career of performing, which is my first, but
no my only, choice.
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| This is one of my last shows "back home" with Dustin Burchett & Southern Ground. Really, I felt like the text need broken up in places. |
The only other things I was going
to be leaving were family and friends. My family jumped on board to support my
endeavor just like they always have. My friends who are also a very important
part of my life were mostly supportive, too. I can honestly say that beyond the
familiarity of home, the people close to me are really the only thing I miss
regularly…and the mountains, something I never thought about missing.
While I consider many of my
friends to be family, each of them seemed to be taking the next step in their
lives (marriage, career, children, etc.), and I was having a lot of trouble
finding whatever that next step was supposed to be for myself. I guess you
could say that I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for, but I wasn’t finding
it where I was. I don’t know that things will be any different anywhere else,
but I needed to find out if they could be.
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| I really do miss those mountains. The sky is so much bigger here. |
The final decision really came
down to a simple thought: what’s the worst that could happen? I move to Florida , sign a lease
for a year (the first of which actually wound up not even being that long), I
don’t like it, nothing works out, and I come home. On the other hand, I could
find a job I really enjoy, get to meet lots of new people, have new
experiences, and, if nothing else, miss out on at least one cold, West Virginia
Winter. I can even fly home for a pretty reasonable price when I want to come
back to visit. I’m currently trying to work out a trip home for Christmas.
So, instead of signing another
year lease in Huntington , WV
This all started really picking
up momentum in June 2013 when I was out of my lease. By the beginning of
September, we were packed and ready to go. On September 4, we loaded the moving
truck, twice, because I got in a hurry the first time, and on September 5, we
were on the road to sunny Orlando ,
FL.
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| That's a 17' U-Haul packed as tight as we could get it. There's also stuff in the car and the front seat of the U-Haul. |
Without going into too much
financial detail, we had both saved enough money to be able to survive for a
few months, conservatively, without having any real income. We both had an idea
of what we wanted to accomplish, and having the money saved up would allow us
to take our time to pursue those interests and not be forced to take the first
job that came along. I had already done as much math as I could plan ahead for
to figure out what the move itself would cost…gas, truck, motels, deposits,
etc. I had everything planned out that I could imagine, but as in many
instances, what I didn’t imagine was exactly what happened.
Next: Beautiful Sights and a Beat
Up Motel
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