Raleigh, NC

Our move to North Carolina was an interesting journey. It started a little over a year ago. A friend I'd met in Phoenix while learning to build guitars called me and said that a great storefront had opened up by NC State. He said it would be worth checking out. So on a whim I flew out to NC and checked it out. We deliberated for a couple days; I flew back to Vegas. After a week Lisa and I had basically decided against it. I'm not 100% sure what the turning point was but within the next few days we both had a strong feeling that we should do it. And so we began the test of nerves and patience. To this day I don't know how we managed to do it all and keep our sanity. I was making trips back and forth to help remodel the store. Lisa was pregnant and working full time. Howard was working non stop trying to get the store finished up while I wasn't there. Some of his closest friends and his dad helped him constantly. At the time we both were building guitars for store inventory and we had to get all the other inventory together which meant searching for cool used stuff and setting up dealer agreements with manufacturers. Not to mention the signs, advertising, security, insurance, permits, the list goes on. I had no idea the amount of time that would go into just opening the doors. Our family was also getting ready to move 2000 miles across the country. Serenity and I, with our cat and dog, drove the long haul in our Honda. Lisa and Sara flew out a few days after we left. We had my truck shipped and a moving company haul the trailer that we packed. We could not have done it without the help of many of our friends in Las Vegas and I will always be thankful for you all. We miss you.

That being said, I'm so glad that we did it. Now the store's open and we are working hard to keep it open. Raleigh is a great place to live. We've met a bunch of great people here. Our neighbors are awesome. I walk to work. Lisa can be at home with Sara for the moment and Serenity will be in a school with an orchestra this coming year. I have quite a bit of family in Raleigh that I didn't even know lived here (my family is gigantic in numbers). We are getting together with them this coming Saturday.

At the moment it's a little scary to look at what we left behind. Amazing friends, health insurance, steady income, job security...but the move was the right thing to do and I don't regret it. It has been a great 6 months and I hope we can sustain our simple lifestyle here for years to come.