First, I spent the last five years helping my parents make their grand exit to the next astral plane – doctors, grief, exhaustion, repeat. It was necessary but brutal, and frankly, I needed a nap and a new chapter. I’d always said I’d join the Peace Corps after they passed, and I wanted to make good on that promise (still in a holding pattern on that one.)

Then there’s the fact that I got laid off last summer and the job market has ghosted me. 

Oh, and its 2025 and the republic is collapsing like a Jenga tower in a wind tunnel. 

So yeah… seemed like as good a time as any to reinvent everything.