. . . and then there was pickle.

So this is it. This is where I've ended up. Here they are, the entire cast of characters. Lucky and Aristotle - the two cats, Harold and Maude - the Beagle and Husky mix respectively, and (of course) mom and pickle. We all live together in a really cool, really small house in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. My entire adult life has now been spent living in Cleveland. I never had an aversion to this, but I always thought that I'd end up in more of a transient lifestyle. But here it is - this is where I am starting my family.

I spent my early twenties working as a professional theatrical actor here in town, and started my own production company when I was twenty-five. The company did very well, and I got really burnt out by thirty. I had been working as an actor still in the summer (the off-season) at a local amusement park - and when I reached critical mass as Artistic Director I jumped ship and accepted a low-level, seasonal management position at the amusement park. In conjunction with this I decided to go back to school and get a Masters Degree in Business Management. Kindof a bizzarre turn for someone who was supposed to be a rock star. I have an Associates Degree in Music and a Bachelors Degree in Theatre.

I wasn't supposed to be where I am. I know - we all say that, but it doesn't make it any easier to deal with. I dont feel any different than I did when I was 16 - yet now I'm supposed to know something, and soon act like one of 'them' in the big sense. I am a natural born actor so I'm sure noone will be any the wiser as to my true disfunction, but there seems to be so much more at stake now - because now I sit holding another person that I am wholey responsible for.

I am amazingly lucky in that I get to spend the first six months of my daughter's life with her every day learning who she is and what kind of father I can be. I attend evening classes while the mom works during the day. In August I need to re-enter the work force when I finish my degree. I intend to find an entry level position at a large arts organization and build my resume for the next 10 years so eventually I can get hired to run an arts facility somewhere.

The mom is the one with the law degree, but unfortunately for our finances - she's also the idealist. She isn't liscensed as of yet. Mainly because she hates lawyers. She sticks to the world of immigration where she tries to make more Americans as a paralegal in a small firm. She's a fairly impressive woman - except for putting up with me.

Together we have made the most beautiful creature I have ever laid my eyes on.

I have three and a half more months to entrench myself in fatherhood before I get swept off to the working world. Not that school is a piece of cake. I still have to finish two classes, including my Capstone project - but at least I get to look at her while I'm doing it.

As time moves on I am sure that I will expand on the pre-pickle scenario, but for right now - this will give you a cursory understanding of the world we're living in.

We have the biggest hopes and dreams for her, and dont even know where to begin in the ways we can screw it all up.

pickle's papa