When I started writing for LEO Weekly, I had just been fired from a job that compromised my health, both mentally and physically. It was a gift, and one day I’ll send them a fruit basket to thank them. Within hours it seems, my phone rang. It was LEO’s music editor calling to ask if I’d write something about music. I knew that I wasn’t going to be happy simply writing music reviews, or doing band interviews, so I made a wild suggestion: “Let me write about how we live with music.” The moment he agreed changed my life as a writer and daughter of this city.

Now, as I am writing this, a sort of farewell, I am suddenly hit by a tsunami of memories and emotions.

LEO has been a home for some of my craziest thoughts and ideas, so how do I let that go? It is rare for a writer to be given the freedom and support that I’ve been afforded by the team of folks at LEO (both new and old). I can’t imagine that I will ever have that same experience again, but as I close my time as a weekly columnist with the paper, I realize that all experiences are not meant to be repeated, but it is necessary to take what I’ve learned here and move forward.