Nice To Re-meet You

I suppose I should say something like "hello."

This is me with a graffiti that somehow knows my life motto.

I haven't written much of anything in what feels like a year or more. Moving out on your own, learning to be an adult, it changes you. You realize some things you thought were the pillars of you just aren't true anymore, at least for a while.  I don't think I stopped writing in my head. But I stopped putting it on paper. I didn't chase the stories down. I chased real life adventures instead. I took a lot in. I learned to appreciate beauty I hadn't seen before, I stayed out until early morning driving with friends, I experienced new depths of emotion. Incredible connection, crushing heartbreak, conscious emptiness.
I said and thought a lot of things that slipped away into the air of the places I occupied, lost forever. Or maybe they're still cycling through the air ducts, floating on the night breeze, tangled in the fibers of my pillows.
I think I'm ready to start writing again.

I'll admit, life this past year has been as wearying as it has been revolutionary. But I wouldn't trade away the time I spent or the lessons I learned. No matter how many mistakes I made, no matter how many times I cried and couldn't hide it. I feel more like a mess and know myself less than ever before. It's becoming increasingly important to find my identity in God as everything around me changes so quickly.

I chose to name this new blog "Beautiful Times" after an Owl City song about beauty mixed with pain. Maybe I'll change it later, but for this time in my life, it seems fitting.

A few important facts about my life right now to give some context:

>>I live in a big blue house named Hampton with about 23 different people give or take a couple. We're an Intentional Christian Community dedicated to investing in each other's lives, not just sharing space.
>>My main job is at a car wash. I work there half the week. The other half of the week I try to focus on my art. I create and publish a webcomic and try to do other illustration as well.
>>I just turned 20. My days of teen heroism are over. It's all regular type superhero antics from here on out.