And know when to fold them.
But most importantly, you gotta know when to shuffle and re-deal.

See what I did there? My pun-iness must be because I’ve done a lot of emailing with Justine lately, you know how much she and I love playing with words, almost as much as justifying lunch at 11:15am. I’m pretty sure that was lunchtime for the younger kids in elementary school…

Anyway, back to reshuffling the cards. After about a month of sleeplessness, stress breathing and wanting to puke or cry everyday, I decided to move back to Illinois.

Apparently according to a handful of friends and family, this comes as no surprise. I guess I’m ok with that as long as a few things are understood.
Most importantly, this is not the end of my career quest, it’s actually the beginning of the dream career quest-to work in tv near my family in Chicago. I told my sister-in-law that I previously thought I couldn’t get work in Chicago, maybe that’s the reason I moved so quickly, but now I’m ready to put both feet forward and borrow as many clichés from my Mom’s vocabulary to make it happen. Sometimes you need clichés to motivate yourself to take on a challenge.

As for the other reasons, I will never fit in the Hollywood culture. Heck, I hardly fit into any culture, but I just couldn’t handle that one and I’m much too stubborn to believe that would change.
Finally, I’m on the opposite side of financially stable, über broke.

I appreciate every teeny tiny bit of support and assistance I’ve been given by everyone involved in my going from the middle to the left and back.

I’m good at saying thank you, but that doesn’t make it any less true – so thanks.

Especially to that word-loving Justine that managed to write the perfect paragraphs explaining my need to retreat. I’ve forwarded it to the masses.