74-to-cincinnati

moving is hard,

why do I keep moving?

FWD

I’d spent all the time I was meant to in Des Moines, for now. It’s not really my home, but it also will always be home. Comfort and complacency were closing in on me.

The idea of living in Cincinnati with my closest friends put a point on my horizon –something to look forward to, something I’d been missing since coming back stateside.

One road, nine hours.

585 miles. A perfect two tanks each way,

5 times in 3 months.

First, from Des Moines to Cincinnati, staying with Cheyney and Trae for two weeks to find a home and a job.

On the 8th day, I signed my lease under the solar eclipse new moon. new beginnings, new dynamics, newfound balance.

24 hours in St. Louis with Morgan for Khruangbhin, brunch and a walk in the garden. I was fortunate for a couple hours of kinship with my VFA cousins.

I spent 5 more days in Cincinnati interviewing with whoever responded before I was back on 74 to get my stuff.

It wouldn’t have been a complete move without a full moon and my car breaking down the day I planned to leave.

I made it in a day later and backed the trailer into my driveway, unloaded my car under the moon, then parallel parked the trailer for the night.

Cheyney and Trae and James helped me unload but I wasn’t officially welcomed by the city until I went to drop-off the Uhaul and that mf detached!!! I was literally two blocks away but stranded and surrounded by strangers doing their best to reattach it with whatever we could find on the street.

Cincinnati takes care.

I had to ask myself why I keep moving. It’s not particularly fun but it’s very revealing and I enjoy the checkpoint a move inevitably becomes. What’s worth keeping and packing and carrying?

What of me is left in the last place? What’s waiting for me in the new place?

You only are free when you realize you belong no place — 

you belong every place — no place at all. The price is high.

The reward is great.

Maya Angelou

A month in…

I took a little errand walk this morning while reflecting on my first month here and it’s really lovely that I feel like I haven’t met a stranger in cincinnati. everyone that I happen into is really warm and genuine.

3 months in…

I’ve settled in a bit of flow here, but I’m also just getting started.

I’m still excited to discover what Cincinnati will mean and bring.

And, I have this feeling that this city on the horizon might just be along the way.