perhaps its bad form to point out the flaws, but you lose the strengths of doing anything only sparingly, and writing is no different. Grammatically incorrect and structurally derp, please forgive the way its presented and just take the message...
Today is an important day in the life of one d$. It was on this day in 1998 that I moved to Birmingham, Alabama. I knew no one, I had no church, I didn't know my way around... but I chose B'Ham.
Why, you ask? Well, my original intent was Mobile, a city that I still think is cool. My other options were Atlanta and Nashville, because I'm more of a city guy... or was when I was 23 anyway. But job offers had not come from Mobile, but I did get one job offer from Birmingham, at a little place called Designers International.
Now, if I could go back, there are a number of things I would tell 23 year old d$ to consider before shaking Rob Zuckert's hand and agreeing to work for this company.
First, what will I be doing? The answer ended up being going door to door, store to store, parking lot to parking lot, selling knock off perfume out of a box.
Next, ask what my starting salary would be... The perfume was $22 a bottle, so anything price I got beyond the $22 was mine to keep. My first week in Birmingham, I made $7. I wish I were kidding...
Finally, ask where the door was so I could leave... this was a disaster, but that's another post.
No, the main reason I moved to Birmingham was for a girl named Amy Wible, because I thought we'd go out. When the girl you dig says "Move here and we can see each other!", you move. Or I did. As it turns out, we actually didn't see each other for another 2 years, but that is also another story.
But, this day in history... my friends Allysong, Shelby, Eddie, Troy Mac, Claire and a few others helped me load my stuff into my car and into another, and we drove to Birmingham together to unload it into my new, $435 per month loft at Carousel Apartments on Lorna Road. My friends were so cool, in fact, that we drove back to Troy, loaded up the rest of it and came back... the guys spent the night with me, the girls with Allysong (who was from Alabaster, a Birmingham suburb), and early the next day, they drove back to Troy, Alabama. Without me. I was on my own.
My dream, besides working at Designer International, was to catch on a radio station and maybe be behind the mic... after all, I did it for 3 years in college, so this can't be hard, right? Or maybe work at a TV station, first in production and then perhaps, who knows, in front of the camera?
It's been 18 years since my dreams of my two years in Birmingham would surely spill into a great job in Nashville, TN, or maybe over in Atlanta, maybe with Amy, maybe not. Or maybe I'd just move to New York City for a year or so... but first, let me spend two years here, get settled, pay off some debt and then pack up and move on.
But a funny thing happened on the way to 2016.
I met a guy named Michael and ended up moving to Pinebrook Apartments with he and Shawn and Big Tom Johnson. Then we moved to Briarberry Circle and founded The Deuce.
I joined Valleydale Baptist Church, now known as Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship), my first -- and only -- church membership. I'm still there, despite all the changes.
I met Stephanie Campbell in our college & career group at church, and thought she was the cutest thing ever.
I got a job as a temp at Parisian Corporate, which turned into a full time sales assistant job.
I worked at a radio station as a sales assistant, and realized I didn't want to do radio as a career.
I worked at the local NBC station, again as a sales assistant, and realized it was the worst job I'd ever had.
I worked at a movie theater and learned that many high school students are lazy. But many work hard.
I reconnected with Amy and realized she wasn't the one for me (and she knew I wasn't the one for her)
I worked at Starbucks because I decided I would pay off my debts and save up for a ring because I really, really liked that cute girl named Stephanie Campbell.
I worked at The Disney Store and it confirmed my love of all things Disney. And I realized that yes, you can have a complete broken heart when the job ends.
I worked at Starbucks again and realized, maybe years too late, it wasn't my life's goal.
I worked at Alabama Power, to help clear my head of Starbucks.
And then I became a full time travel planner.
I've been a ticket tearer, a perfume pimper, a make-salespeople-look-good'er, a barista, a shift supervisor, an assistant manager, a manager, a barista, a shift supervisor, an assistant manager, a shift supervisor, a Cast Member, an engineering contractor (!) and finally, a travel planner.
'
I helped start a podcast with some of my best friends, my Deucemates... I've been close to my Sunday Scho... er, Life Connec... uh, Life Gro... that group on Sunday mornings for over 10 years now... I've reconnected with my BFF Best Mate Wookiee after a few years apart... I've reconnected with my worst first date ever, Ginny Kochan... I've become friends with reality stars like Brooke from The Bachelor, now on NBC, and been put into the Million Dollar Hold by WWE Hall of Famer Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase... I joined the cult of Jon Acuff, and three years later, I can say names like "Clay Shaver" and "Rick TOOOOLIE" and "Debra Henessy" and "Liz Clark" as some of my favorite people on the planet, people that help push me to what I'm doing now...
In 18 years, I've written 1000+ blog posts... traveled the East Coast... watched 1000s of movies... read 100s of books... been to Disney World countless times, and even did the "four parks in one day" thing twice (while doing the water parks too, for a 6 parks in one day trip) and accomplished 50 attractions in 24 hours...
In 18 years, I got married to the cutest thing ever, The Lovely Steph Leann... we had Campbell Isaiah, who is the most amazing kid I know... lost both of the people who raised me, but gained a mom who'd let me go 36 years ago... we paid off debt, we bought a house, we bought a brand new car...
And if I had moved to Mobile... I would have never had The Deuce... I would have never found Valleydale, and thusly never met The Lovely Steph Leann... I might've never met Clay Shaver or Liz Clark... Wookiee may have never come to see me in Mobile, so we would have been another case of "best buds in college, but lost touch over the years"... my life would be different.
Maybe worse, maybe just a lateral move in quality (I mean, who's to say that I wouldn't be talking about my life in Mobile, wondering what life would have been like had I moved to Birmingham instead?) but...
but... I like it like this. For what was supposed to be a two year stop in Birmingham before moving to bigger and better... I somehow found my bigger and better right here.
Two years becomes 18, and 18 will likely become 25 and beyond.
Here's to the next 18.
