I did not expect to go nearly two years without writing a new blog post on this site.

There are many reasons for that, which are more appropriate for a separate post. Those include other writing work and searching for new jobs, uncertainty over what I would do next with this blog and another site I’ve been trying to build for years, feeling like I didn’t have anything worth saying, getting busy with new work and, frankly, sheer laziness.

But I’ve been meaning to dust this blog off for quite a while and writing something about the devastation suffered by western North Carolina by Hurricane Helene has provided some motivation.

After living in Asheville for 13 years, we moved to Johnson City, Tennessee in June 2023. The owner of the condo that we rented for four years wanted to sell and we decided not to buy it. We were offered a fair price, but the unit also needed some work and we didn’t want to make that investment.

Needing a new place to live also provided an opportunity to move closer to my sister and her kids. Years earlier, we wouldn’t have wanted to leave Asheville. But COVID changed my lifestyle and outlook, and moving to a place that wasn’t as culturally vibrant didn’t bother me as much as it once would have. Being a bigger part of my nieces’ lives felt far more important.

Also, it just felt like time to move on. Asheville had changed a lot during my 13 years there and I didn’t like what it had become, especially in how the city favored tourists over residents. But maybe that’s better suited for a different post, as well.

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