Wave goodbye...

I’d really like to write something incredibly special and meaningful right now. Today is a rather momentous day in my mind. I turned 35 today as well as prepared for having movers arrive in the morning to pack me up and move me out from Kansas City. Sadly though, I am insanely tired at the moment so I am not sure what I will be able to write. But I’ll give it a go.

As of today I am no longer important to American culture. I am no longer a male aged 18 to 34. I am not a part of the target market. That is what I mean when I say that this birthday is rather meaningful to me. This marks from a marketing standpoint that I simply no longer matter. It also means that I am in my mid-30’s. No ifs, ands or buts about it. That will take me a little while to get used to because I have failed on my biggest goal: to be married by the time I turned 35. On the plus side I did not settle for someone who I really didn’t want. On the minus side I am alone when I didn’t really plan to be at this point in my life. I will write a lot more about this in the upcoming weeks.

As for leaving Kansas City it is a real bittersweet moment for me. As anyone who has read this blog knows I am not exactly fond of this town. I intentionally did not set down roots when I moved here. I knew that this was only going to be a rest stop in my life. I never anticipated living here for the rest of my life. But there are certainly things that I have enjoyed about the town.

KC is a really convenient place; something you get spoiled by. I was able to go to hundreds of concerts with no real commute to any of them. Shopping surrounded me wherever I turned. There were bars within blocks of my apartment. True, you typically have to drive wherever you want to go but it is never a long drive. I’ll miss that.

I won’t miss the conservative nature of this town and the closed mindedness that confronted me at seemingly every turn. I won’t miss the cliquishness and the pettiness and all of the small town nonsense that I came across. Those are the things that drove me crazy and it took me years to find some like minded people I could connect with. Maybe I can blame all of this for my lack of a social life at time. It took a long time for me to meet people that I would want to be friends with.

But I did end up with a great group of friends and they are going to be incredibly tough to say goodbye to. I moved here knowing no one and I will leave with some wonderful friends, a few of whom made the decision to leave one of the toughest decisions I have ever had to make. To everyone who has crossed my path in these past five years and has touched my heart I thank you in every sense of the term. You made these past few years worthwhile.

Where am I off to? Delaware in terms of geography. The next challenge of my life in more abstract terms. It should be one hell of a ride.

I’ll end with what might be the most appropriate song possible. I sure made a mess of this town…