The Riaky Road #1; Musings from the Author

We are here, folks! If you are a reader of mine, than you know that I failed my daily blog series "100 Days of Marvel," partly due to Marvel Film Studios changing the release date of their movie and cutting 7 days off my timeline, but MAJORLY due to the fact that life just got in the way (an excuse I use too often). 

I decided to try my hand at another large writing project - one that I will likely not remain consistent with until the end, but am feeling like I can make it! Besides, every little bit I write allows me to flex my writing muscle and pulls me out of a tv show, video game, book, or some other mind-number. 

This series is a cut away from my usual discussions of film and heroic pursuits, to let folks into my life a little bit as we construct our own life narratives together - consider this a very long and ongoing extension of my "About the Author" page. For the next 30 days (and then randomly as my fancy strikes for the rest of my life) I will check in here about a topic that is happening in my life that I want to log. Here goes:

Today's Topic: The Worst That Can Happen is That We Fail

It is a very strange feeling - moving to a new city without any place lined up to live. My wife, Grace, and I are leaving the Peach State for the Big Apple in just a few weeks, and there is a lot that goes into this move, some things that we anticipated and a lot that we did not. Overall, and spoilers for the new Deadpool movie if you have not seen it, it feels like our legs have been cut off - but, due to their regenerative capabilities, they are now regrowing and are in a toddler state. We will have to relearn how to walk if we are going to make it. Did that make sense? This is STILL a blog about heroes, after all. 

We were hopeful back in February when we started our job hunt that we would have lined up jobs in New York by now, but 4 months later and just 1 month shy of the Kelleys' Great New York Adventure, we still don't have a grasp on just how exactly we are going to make New York work. And trust that this blog does not bring in the financial support on Patreon yet, though I am so damn funny and full of wit. All our family, and most of our friends, live in Atlanta, so it's not exactly like we have a lot of couches to crash on in New York for so long. It's also not like we have so much money saved up that we can live jobless for a few months (kinda hard when you only currently make just enough to save a tiny bit).

But we are both determined to just make it work. Interviews, trips to the city via very long bus and car rides (not yet, but first one is this weekend), and living currently off a healthy diet of ramen noodles, water, and frozen vegetables (gross exaggeration) are just small things we can do to pinch pennies, but really we are consuming faith. There is no time like right now, for where we both are in our lives.

We have heard every reason as to why we should stay - money, no job, no place yet to stay, leaving jobs you have now is huge mistake, what about the cats, your support system is all in Georgia, etc. And of course, this is all true. We knew when we made the decision that this would not be an easy adjustment, and neither would we want it to be. Getting married was not a challenge for us, and has been an easy transition (not without hurdles, but easy). Adopting cats - not hard. We don't have kids, and other commitments we have in life are not exclusive to Atlanta and can come right along with us, or we can return to those here in the city occasionally - but we think it is safe to say that moving to New York is the hardest thing we have ever done (it feels odd to write will ever do, because that is not true at all).

Ideally, things work out. Grace and I will both find jobs and a comfortable place to start our time in New York, we both finish June strong at our jobs and set up our replacements for success, and we can begin to experience new adventures that life has to offer - seeing shows on Broadway, visiting local bodegas and working on our books, taking a random Wednesday night to walk through Central Park and visit Harlem to boo people performing at the Apollo (have you ever booed anyone, it is very cathartic) and among many more amazing adventures that I am hoping for me personally: returning to school at NYU for my Master's of Dramatic Writing next year (the next big step). The city is rich with life, and it ill be nice to have a decently reliable public transportation system will send me into fits of Facebook rage - but at-least will be better than MARTA.

Knowing that the clock is ticking - it is now JUNE after all (how on Earth did that happen so fast) - and that we have much less time to prepare left than when we started, we are filled with all of the feelings. Fear, excitement, hopefulness, paranoia (within reason), doubt, whatever feeling sums up the perfect meaning of having a lack of comfort or feeling unsafe, stronger, emboldened, enthusiastic - the lot of feelings when you know you are doing something amazing, something that will change your life, but something that can also test you in ways that you (we) have never before been tested. 

The largest thing I find comfort in this challenge is that the worst thing that can happen is that we fail, and you know what - that ain't so bad. We don't get jobs, we don't find a place to live, it rains every day during our failing, and that we ultimately have to return home with our tails between our legs and crash with friends or family until we grow entirely new Atlanta Legs. But even in that event, we would both know that we tried to do something great - we tried to go into life and experience things that we never have. My cousin Larry posted a sentiment on one of his social media postings a few days ago, and the sentiment he shared is absolutely true. Destinations ARE overrated, but the journeys - the adventures that we take in life whilst we are living it, that is where the fruit is on the tree, that is where the gold ore veins are hidden, and that is where growth occurs. Whether we fail or succeed, we are so excited to take this journey - especially because we get to do it together.