Happy Cinco de Mayo x Rancho Cocoa

Five years ago today, Missy picked me up from the BUS STATION in downtown Athens. My sister, Cynthia, had a free flight to Jacksonville, Florida, which she kindly gave to me. I flew from Southern California into Jacksonville and then boarded a GREYHOUND BUS for Athens. I was visiting Missy for a little over a week, trying to decide whether or not I really wanted to move to Georgia or not. It was a recurring topic in our long-distance conversations. After that visit in May of 2005, I would return to Athens again during the summer while touring as the trumpet-playing member of RED PONY CLOCK. I had a lot of time on that month-long tour of the U.S. to make up my mind. In October, I cashed out what little money I had in my 401K, packed up my little Ford Focus, and headed east. I arrived back in Athens a couple of days shy of Halloween...

...Exactly two years after I arrived at the bus station on Cinco de Mayo, Missy and I moved into the house we just bought. We closed on the house on May 1st, 2007 and moved in on the 5th. We christened the house "RANCHO COCOA", partly as a nod to the Mexican holiday, but also because of the ranch-style architecture of our new home. For us, buying the house represented two things: first and foremost, it was a big middle finger to all the sketchy roommates and even sketchier landlords we've had to deal with - good riddance! Secondly, it marked a time in our lives when we realized that we were ready to "settle down" and "grow up" a little bit (just a little)...we finally had a little corner of the world that we could call and make our own...