When I was home for Christmas this year, I spent some time going through closets of my old things, to decide what I was keeping, and what was either trash, or a giveaway/sell item. I found myself going through boxes and boxes of old music, and scripts from plays that I was in or studied, and I found boxes full of pictures too. I looked through these pictures, some that we’re taken in high school, some younger, some from college. Pictures of all different things; Parties, beach days with friends, travel, and shows. I looked through stacks of pictures from my Europe trip right after my senior year. I found old playbills of shows I was in, old reviews of my performances from newspapers, and even an old schedule from one of the theater companies I used to work for. And as I looked through everything, I felt like I’ve already lived multiple lives. Like some of these experiences were entire lifetimes ago. I had a whole career in musical theater already going, and I was successful. I looked at my old schedule and remembered just how busy I was during that time. I didn’t have a day job then either. I was working about 5 different performing arts jobs to make ends meet, and held a full, almost daily schedule with at least one theater company. There it was staring at me. Shows almost every day for months, and that was just one of my jobs. I didn’t stop doing theater because I wasn’t successful, I stopped doing it, because even when I was doing a musical, my heart was yearning for something more. I missed music. I missed doing my own music. I missed being able to go up on stage, and be more completely myself, not someone else. I had really decided to focus on Theater out of college, because that’s where my business training was, and I figured I’d just cross over at some point, and be a solo artist in music, because that was always my dream. But, during my last show, I realized I had no time for music with the schedule I was keeping, and I decided that I was shifting gears. I quit theater, crazy. Now as I look back on those times, I realize I’m right back now where I was at 20. Working my butt off in the beginning stages of my career, doing well, but I still have a lot farther to come. And as I look ahead, I know it’s going to be like this for a while. In fact, for a while, it’s just going to get crazier. But music feeds my soul. It feeds my soul, not just because of what I’m able to get out of being up on stage singing, or writing a new song, but also because of what I’m able to give back. Thank you for being on this journey with me.