Patrick Beeson

The lack of updates on this website shouldn't imply a lack of change. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Not only have my wife Lindsay and I changed jobs and moved states, we've also settled into a lifestyle that's damn-near perfect.

The journey began when Lindsay and I realized our move to Roanoke was more of a reaction to our previous situation in Knoxville, TN than the new direction we were seeking. We thought that we could rekindle the best of what we both remembered during our previous time there; we couldn't.

Our year in Roanoke was a strange collision of how we used to live, and our current lifestyle. Thanks to the mountains, I managed to find my cycling legs again. And I continued to polish my homebrewing skills.

Lindsay helped us downsize into a tiny apartment. We both made gains in refining our diets.

We made some great new friends, and reconnected with some old ones.

But if you aren't happy where you spend the majority of your day, all of this is for naught. Neither of our jobs panned out as we'd hoped.

Then a funny thing happened: We started to realize home was really were we both started our lives. Home was in North Carolina.

We knew the Triad (Winston-Salem, Greensboro and High Point) was the ideal spot to settle. It was close to the mountains and family. We had history there.

In the end it was the former tobacco-capitol of the South (world?) that won our hearts.

I snagged an amazing job as Director of Digital Communications at the equally amazing Wake Forest University. Lindsay also lucked out with one of her dream jobs as a barista at Camino Bakery.

We also pulled the trigger on a ridiculous house in the West End, an ideal neighborhood if there was one. It's located within walking distance to downtown, great schools, a bike shop, beer store and brewpub. I can also ride my bike to work easily.

My cycling? Blown up. I finished off my cyclocross season with an upgrade to Cat 2. I started my first road season as a Cat 4, and have already upgraded to Cat 3. I'm riding like it's my part-time job.

Roanoke wasn't meant to be our home. But it was necessary to get us to where we were meant to be.

And that's not a bad thing at all.