nine years ago today

i was en route from North Carolina to Washington Heights. i was 22 years old, and i knew everything. i was in love (obsessed) with a beautiful dancer from Sarah Lawrence College i had met that summer in Durham.

i fell in love with Manhattan the first time i saw it. i was 18 years old, and i knew some things. i was in love (not obsessed) with a beautiful opera singer from Duke University i had met that autumn in Durham.

i decided to move to New York on February 10, 1998. i was 21 years old, and i knew i was going to become a lighting designer. it was in love (at first sight) with modern dance after a performance by Parsons Dance Company in Chapel Hill.

moving there changed everything, but:

it wasn't the beautiful dancer.
it wasn't the designing.
it wasn't Manhattan.

moving there changed everything, because:

if i hadn't moved there, i couldn't have left the beautiful dancer.
if i hadn't moved there, i couldn't have left the designing.
if i hadn't moved there, i couldn't have left Manhattan.

and

if i hadn't left, there would be no Part 2.

to be continued...