Dear Seven Cities,

Thanks for having us.

When Jesse asked me to write an article about our time in Hampton Roads, I was honored. I was featured in AltDaily last year sharing some of my local photography with you all, and I was happy to be asked back. About five seconds after I agreed, however, I became completely butter-brained about what I would write. I suddenly became conflicted: Should I write about how hard it has been for our family to live here? What a struggle this place has been for someone who is not a fan of heat or beach or humidity or driving?

Or should I celebrate this town, where many of you grew up and which you hold in your hearts? Should I talk about how wonderful places like the Naro, Fair Grounds, an early Java Cup Coffee, Shenandoah Valley, and Core Theater Ensemble have opened their hearts to us and helped us survive here? I have no idea what you guys want to hear, but I know that leaving you with either a blatant thumbs up or a thumbs down for your Seven Cities would be equally wrong.

Hampton Roads has been an interesting challenge for me to navigate as an artist. It has been the starting grounds for my growing small business, and I’ve been happy to have had five shows featuring my artwork in this area at local spots BadAss Coffee, Borjo CoffeeHouse, Java Cup Cafe, Walls Fine Art, and Riverside Gallery. It’s really rough out there for an artist these days (or any days) financially, and there’s really never a time without discouragement that things aren’t selling, but that is the nature of the creative beast, and I am in the belly of it.

Only time and distance will show what I will end up missing from a town. I have lived in well over 10 cities in the last four years. In fact, I am a Colorado Springs-Austin-Flagstaff-Seattle-Girdwood-Lugano-Heredia-London-Olympia-Gimmelwald-Tuscon-San Diego-Virginia Beach-NYC-Mississippi transplant.

So, I’ve learned to keep my mouth shut regarding the degree to which I will miss a place.

I’m really too close to Hampton Roads to say anything about it at this point. That’s where the camera comes in. These are a selection of photographs we have made during our year here. An ode to the ever true wisdom that life–or in this case, Hampton Roads–is what you make it. We like to have fun & find beauty wherever we are. These photographs are what I leave you with, and I hope that you continue to make this city a better place with your own hands.

As I write this, It’s almost 1 am, and we’re at the La Quinta Inn in Virginia Beach. Our dog is asleep underneath the desk, and my husband is playing Eve while I work. Tomorrow we will go take down our pieces at Borjo and stuff them into our car where all of our belongings reside and take the next steps of our journey. You can follow our travels & writing online here and support our store here.

We’d like to thank AltDaily for being a part of our lives and for helping to localize a lot of the artistic community here; your work is paying off, and we have seen you grow throughout this last year. Thanks for your support of our work.

And to Hampton Roads: thanks for keeping both me and my sailor husband safe during our stay. Oh, and if anyone ever sees this cute cat wandering around these Seven Cities, let us know. She never did let us find her. Viva -

Moon Pull

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