It’s surreal to me that this is my life.

That on a random Tuesday I can load up my family to go enjoy a nice dinner on the ocean while live music vibrates through the air intertwined with the sound of the ocean, seagulls, and people laughing.

That we can up and stick our feet in the cold sand at 8PM following said dinner if we choose to.

That my kid can learn gymnastics on the shoreline rather than a stanky-ass gym filled with ringworm infested mats.

Don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful for the life I lived in Ohio for 29 years. But the years I have lived here, in North Carolina, have been filled with more genuine joy. I’m excited to wake up here every day. I have fallen in love with myself again. My life. My family.

Idk, maybe it’s the fact my whole life reset in 2018 when we lost Joey. Maybe I just can’t remember the good that came before because it seems so long ago.

Or, maybe… I have truly found my home. Maybe, just maybe, I’ve been like a plant in the wrong soil my whole life and I just needed more sunshine and saltier water to completely thrive.

Yeah, that’s it. I like the sound of that latter better. We’re gonna roll with that.