It’s a beautiful sight, isn’t it; this little farm just 2 miles down the road from the park we live in. It’s been 10 years since this little town seemed like the template for a fresh start. Honey Brook saved me. I mean that quite literally.
This is where I moved my life and my work. DFW Radio, at least the best moments of it, happened in a bangin’ little trailer, in a back room studio with a little bit of soundproofing and a few decent microphones. Every remix project, every voiceover gig… and on a more personal level, I found something beyond the anxiety and coldness of the city… the slums and the bullshit of Pittsburgh, and the misery of living in the same neighborhood as my ex-wife in a tattered and economically challenged Turtle Creek.
But when I found this place, I wasn’t just running from something… I was running towards something more. I found real warmth in the community and real love waiting for me on the other side of what was a miserable life. I was married here. I really lived here. There was a time I was sure I could die here and be perfectly comforted in the thought that I would rest underneath one of those shady trees and become part of this land forever.
The truth of the matter is, there’s a lot of factors that make a life-change very necessary. In the last few years, land developers have started closing in on our little piece of Paradise. A condo here, a mega hardware store there… a few farms going under… a few “mom and pop” shops closing their doors. Less Amish, fewer horses, more people moving here from New York City and more urbanization and cannibalization of something that was once beautiful.
But more importantly, the last few years have been full of something else we can’t ignore any longer: wonky EKG’s, heart failure, decreased mobility that comes with Diabetic neuropathy and other factors, a mild heart attack. My wife is now in a wheelchair 98% of her day. We have a broken chair lift on a narrow porch that for the life of me I can no longer crank to get her in and out of the house, even in an emergency; new landlords that couldn’t give a shit… and a healthcare system that was once phenomenal, and sadly, no longer addresses our specific needs in this little town.
So, some time in the near future… we will be leaving Honey Brook. Where we will end up is something we are still trying to determine. What will happen to DFW Radio? What about my other projects that are ongoing? Well, to be honest, I’m not certain of those things either. If someone else expresses an interest in taking over some of these endeavors… I’m open to that conversation, for the first time ever. There are many things that I cherish, and there are many things that I feel may have run their course in my life. Some projects will fade away… new things will take their place. It’s a matter of timing, I think. I’ll keep you posted.