So we moved to Greenville, SC for a year. We did it for my job, because I wanted to be all-in, to not be the only remote person in the company, to be close to my CEO as we built the company from scratch. And so we built a company, and it turns out that it’s mostly remote, and so it would be totally fine for me to work from Austin. And so we’re moving back.

I do not regret moving to SC. We also had a short stint in Boston about 10 years ago, and I don’t regret that, either. In SC, I have gained new friends, seen the start of what promises to be an amazing food culture, lived in a fantastic loft with 20-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows, and actually had a real autumn, with crisp air and gold and red leaves.

Now that we’re moving back, I am feeling so emotional and attached to Greenville. It’s hard to leave, and yet I know it’s the right thing for us. The truth is, we have been heartbroken and homesick for a year, and to soothe that, we have become homebodies who cling together and only venture out to feed those few connections we have made, with industry and work friends.

I am ready to be back in a place where I feel known; where I have seen the city change around me; where I am surrounded by like-minded people of every color and gender and religion; where my family is a short drive away. In ATX, someone there knows that I like my cocktail onion on a toothpick in my Gibson; someone there knows that I used to write books and manage chef events and cook for a living; someone there was present when I turned 30 and when I turned 40; someone there was in the audience at my first book signing, witnessed my first drunken New Year’s Eve, celebrated my 10th anniversary, knows my middle name. All different people, all important in my life. I can’t wait to get back to them.

Thank you, Greenville, for welcoming me as best as you could, for teaching me what is most important in my life, and for bringing me new friends, and a new home away from home. I’ll be back very soon.