Leaving Cleveland

The choice has been made. After wondering where to go next, my husband and I decided to move to New Orleans later this spring.

Moving down south was something that we had pondered for quite some time, mostly being that the cold weather is really bad on my bum leg now. The California desert wouldn’t be bad, but there are no jobs (perhaps we’ll end up there later). As much as various spots in Europe would be great, moving with cats + my medical issues do not make for an optimal situation. We also needed a kick in the ass in that we wanted somewhere new and unfamiliar. Actually, I wanted my life to get a little weirder. If we could move to Dubai for a few years, I would enjoy that too; a shame neither of us became a diplomat where moving all the time would suit us. Oh those silly cats! I have nothing tying me down in life but the damn cats!

I thought that in moving to Cleveland, I could keep it as a home base and travel. Somehow that never happened. I’ve made great friends here, but the city as a whole let me down. There was so much potential. Things didn’t quite pan out as expected over the years, we got too comfortable, and misfortune kept hitting us over the head. The last and final straw being a bizarre cancer, and I’ll always have a mild handicap because of it. We played it safe, and bad shit happened anyway. It’s very easy to live in Cleveland, and we do have it good here in many respects — yet, somehow we’ve known we couldn’t stay. Granted, we never stay anywhere. It’s a combination of getting bored, and feeling like I am wasting my time or missing out on something. I’ve learned that if you don’t like a situation it’s not that hard to change it. My lack of fear is even greater now because I know that bad random shit can happen at any time; why bother worrying about being mildly reckless? I still regret not cashing out the retirement to follow The Damned and Motorhead on their European tour from the UK to Russia!

I look at people in their mid-late twenties who are buying houses, settling down, and I wonder what the heck is wrong with them? It’s like they’ve given up so quickly, partly because they haven’t been taught any better. I also see people who have been doing the same things they were doing when they were 22, and nothing has changed (not even their maturity level), and I wonder what the heck is wrong with them, too?

Having children is not something I want to do and I’m not going to do it just because I can or it is expected of me. It doesn’t fit in with my lifestyle — end of story. I’ve never bought a house, and all signs have shown me that home ownership just doesn’t suit me. What if I want to move? Which I know I would. Fixing things? A yard? Spending my free time dealing with house problems? Forget it! So with none of these things to tie me down, my husband having a gift for professional reinvention, and my own lack of any real “career” I’m free to do what I want — pretty much. I want to live my life as far away from this as possible:

“Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to a job that you need so you can pay for the clothes, car and the house that you leave empty all day in order to afford to live in it.”

– Ellen Goodman

Someone asked me, “but what if something happens!” Guess what? Something DID HAPPEN. So now we just have to get at least one job, an apartment, hire our previous movers that we used to move from L.A., hope the cats don’t go nuts in the car driving down, and all that other stuff. It would help if I knew some people down there too (anyone wanna make some introductions?). I’m going down in late February or early March to suss everything out, but yes, at least my new city has been chosen. All signs were pointing us to NOLA lately, on top of the fact I’ve been told it’s a good place for artistic types these days. What have a I got to lose?