Christmas of 1990 was one of the weirdest I've ever spent. I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say, I took a strange job in Birmingham with a wacked out photographer for no money and lasted one week before I ran screaming back to Atlanta where I had only moved in with a friend just one week before.
Lynne had invited me to come to Atlanta to live and I had done so because Clearwater was full of bad memories. I was looking for a fresh start. I had joked that I was going to Atlanta to fall in love with a guitar player. But in truth, I wanted to find a better footing the world. I had made a series of bad decisions and I was beginning to pay the toll.
Lynne and I decided that we would look for an apartment to share closer to town. I needed a job and had about $60 to my name and all my worldly posessions packed neatly into a 1979 Dodge Aspen (with some stuff in storage in Clearwater).
Lynne decided that she would invite this guy she knew to join us on our apartment search, stating, "You have to meet him -- you and Carl are the two smartest people I know."
She had me talk to Carl on the phone the day before after inviting him to come with us. My first impression was that he was grumpy. My second impression 15 years ago today, was that he was cute but a little conservative for my tastes. After all, he was a student at Emory Business School and he looked like a prep school, up and coming youngster.
First impressions are not always the best impressions.
In the fifteen years since that day, I have discovered a complex and sensitive life partner who still after all this time surprises and amazes me.
I went to Atlanta to find my life and I'm happy to say that 15 years ago today, I now know I did.
