It's Official

I'm moving to the East Coast this summer.

The plan is: mid-June road trip across America.  Visit & stay with friends, see places I've never seen (like the Grand Canyon - what! I know!), and enjoy a windows down, music up, singing to the sky road trip.  Arrive in North Carolina just in time for my friend's wedding in August, then drive up to my Mom's house in Virginia.  She's offered to let me live with her for a year while I save money, pay off debt, and figure out my next step.

I know how it sounds - I'm 28 (will be 29 by the time I move), broke, single, moving back in with my mom.  Pathetic right?  And it would be if I HAD to do it, or if I was just too lazy to do anything else.  But I'm choosing to do this.  It will be good to be near my family (it's been a long time) and great to save some money; it'll be a perfect jumping-off point for whatever's next.  I've been going through a dirty, duuuuurrty quarterlife crisis the last year and a half, and I've come to the conclusion that what I thought I wanted is not, in fact, what I want (or what I've ever wanted - just what I thought I should want) and therefore I can go anywhere; LA has no hold on me.

Besides my friends, which is a whole other weepy, gonna-miss-you-so-much story that I'd rather not get into right now.

If I stay here, yes, I'm staying with people who love me and inspire me and have picked me up every terrible time I've fallen down (sigh), but I'm also staying in a place that has disappointed me, given me heartbreak and uncertainty, and holds memories and anxieties that have held me down for way too long.  It's time to make a fresh start.  It's time to write the next chapter of my life.

I plan to get back into theatre.  Working the Awesome Festival in Perth reminded me how much I love live theatre, in every capacity, not just acting, and made me realize I'd like to be somewhere it's more respected, not just treated as the bastard step-child of film.  There are some amazing theatre companies in VA and DC, and I have connections to at least one theatre festival on the east coast.

I plan to travel the world.  Saving on rent is gonna make that way more possible.

I plan to sort out what I want to do next.  New city?  New country?  Grad school?  The more I think about it, the more I feel that there's a way to balance my nesting instinct with my wanderlust and that this is the first step.

both images from weheartit.com

 And don't y'all worry, I plan to write.  And write and write - you'll be included every step of the journey.  I'm sorry I haven't been great about it recently; I wasn't ready to make this official yet & that's what I was working through.

It's going to be a huge change, and it's gonna be sad.  But I'm excited.  It's time for a new adventure.

Today I am so grateful and happy for:
~ a simple, relaxing visit from my best friend
~ my roommates supporting my decision & having a good plan for when I leave
~ the next big thing to look forward to

xo! n.