The singer/songwriter Martin Sexton (who I've been on tour with for the past seven weeks) often says “I get paid to travel but I sing for free”. I always like hearing this quote because it gives me both a sense of gratitude and an acknowledgement of where our labor hours are logged.

As I slide into my seat on my flight from Chicago to Boston, the overly calm voice of the pilot informs us that this will be an "extremely bumpy flight". For some reason, it doesn't phase me in the least because I am feeling a huge sense of gratitude right now. I feel like I've somehow managed to find the majority of the puzzle pieces needed to construct a beautiful portrait of a life I couldn't have even dreamed of living. In the past two months, I've gone from doing t...