*remove cobwebs*

Wow... it's been a while. Maybe I should bring you up to speed.

When I last updated this blog regularly(and I use that term very loosely), I was still in Flagstaff, still attending Northern Arizona, and still talked only about writing.

Things change, and life moves in mysterious ways.

Our situation in Flagstaff wasn't the most pleasant, and about the time we came home to discover someone had tried to pry out the screen to our window in an aborted break-in attempt, we decided to leave Arizona and seek greener pastures. For a time, we considered New York. We had the opportunity for a house thanks to family there, and the romantic notion of being a writer in the vicinity of the Big Apple held some appeal. But things fell through, as they sometimes do. We'd made up our minds to leave, and we eventually considered an option I'd never thought we would.

A return to Oklahoma.

I spent most of my life here, and when I left for California, I never thought I'd return. But the lure of being close to my family and living in a far less expensive area trumped things in Flag. We packed up the U-Haul, with me planning to return to school once we settled. I found a job in the medical industry after a stint with Cingular Wireless that is best left unmentioned, and found a great apartment. I finally got a dog. My fiancee and I enjoyed, for the first time in our lives, a degree of financial security.

And Oklahoma City has a Zoo. While this wasn't news, the fact that the Zoo had two red pandas was. We made a trip to the Zoo shortly after our arrival and, as they often do, the red pandas slept. Christmas gifts of an annual pass and a digital camera later, and I found myself at the Zoo regularly, and planted myself in front of the red panda enclosure. Every time I go, I find myself there for hours. Observing. Studying. Knowing, more with each trip, that I want to work with these amazing animals.

The return to Oklahoma wasn't our first choice. But since that time, I've gained greater clarity regarding my future career. I've gone from taking still snapshots on my digital video camera to a photographer who has sold prints, been exhibited in shows and won five ribbons in the Oklahoma State Fair.

I think about that bent in screen sometimes. We didn't have much in Flagstaff, but I often worried about losing it. Now, looking back, I look at it in a different light. It's a lucky man that can say, rather than losing something from an attempted burglary, gained so much?