It began as the by-product of a move.

A chase-your-dreams move.

A cram-everything-you-own-into-one-tiny-U-Haul-trailer-and-drive-23-hours-east move.

It'll continue with a move.

A cram-everything-you-own-back-into-one-tiny-U-Haul-trailer-and-drive-23-hours-west move.

One made possible by a series of unexpected and genuinely serendipitous moves.

What I'm trying to say is, I've got a little bit of news...

I'm moving back.

Back to Texas. Back to Austin. And back to damn near the most ideal job a Longhorn alum could imagine.

(A mile-wide smile is sneaking across my face as I type the actual words).

If the notion that "our experiences shape who we are" holds any weight - and my gut tells me it does - the nine months I've spent in Charlotte have been the most vital of my life.

Laying in bed, too wired to sleep, I had a miniature epiphany of sorts.

Not dissimilar to the game of chess, we make little moves along the way. We look ahead and react accordingly, in hopes of achieving the thing we've set out to accomplish from the beginning. The success we seek at the end hinges upon every move made up to that point. Sometimes we rely on skill. Sometimes strategy. Other times, pure luck. Or divine intervention. And when a culmination of all those things hatch into the most sublime opportunity we could hope to receive... leaving the path in front of us wide open... we have to pounce.

(Humor me as I'm drawing on profoundly limited real life chess-playing experience here).

Am I tickled pink to be coming home? Having unfettered access to Trudy's Mexican martinis? Living a short jaunt up I-35 from my family? Playing a part, albeit very humble, in launching a network?

I'd be lying if I said no.