I feel the earth move...

It's interesting how much your life can change over a certain amount of time. In just a year, I have been given several new opportunities. The natural occurrence of these opportunities has resulted in what can only be described as a complete uprooting and repotting of my life. I have been taken out of the trampled garden of my post-college life and replanted in a nice greenhouse in the Hamptons, a beefy gardener named Javier tending to my every need.

Okay, so I'm not a rare orchid. But I feel like a completely new person than I did a year ago. I lived in a hovel in New York City, I was a couch surfer with no true place to call home. I was unemployed for a much larger percentage of my time out of college than I care to remember. My bills weren't getting paid. I didn't feel in control of my life.

I reflect back and I think of the major plot points of my lifemovie. I can't be sure if it was my cousin, my parents' friends' daughter, or my 7th grade best friend who ultimately saved my life. I saw my cousin, in the chorus of Once Upon a Mattress when she was in middle school. My parents' friends' daughter was some sort of lion-type animal in a bizarre children's retelling of The Wizard of Oz or Little Red Ridinghood or something. And my best friend in 7th grade broke plans with me one day because he had to go to drama club rehearsal. Either of these three things sparked my interest in theatre. This, in turn, inspired me to take theatre classes in high school. In these classes, we took a handful of trips to North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, MA where I saw professional theatre for the very first time. I graduated high school and progressed to Westfield State College, where I met Jack Shea and majored in Theatre Arts. Excelling in this program allowed me to participate in the American College Theatre Festival, where I met Bridget Sullivan, the Associate Production Manager at North Shore Music Theatre. This connection ultimately led me to a career opportunity at NSMT after I graduated college. During my time at NSMT, I met Ben Raffalli, a young actor who raved about this magical place called Stagedoor Manor. Stagedoor is a performing arts summer camp in upstate New York. At Stagedoor, I met the most gifted and talented young performers that impressed upon me a renewed faith in what the human spirit can be. Also at Stagedoor, a fellow staff member became a best friend, and that best friend became the man I plan on spending the rest of my life with. While at Stagedoor, he and I decided to move to Chicago together. I moved to Chicago after camp and miraculously landed a temp job at one of the fastest-growing online companies this country has ever seen. Within months, I am hired full time with salary and benefits. This, in turn, means that I have successfully been paying all my bills on time while living comfortably in between.

So whoever is responsible for that lovely abridged version of my life: Thanks. You rock my socks. Like I said, it's interesting how much your life can change over a certain amount of time.