I did not expect to stand here again.

Over twenty years ago as a college student I walked Front Street in Wilmington North Carolina with a small portfolio of oil paintings and a lot of nerve. I had emailed the owner of a bar restaurant called Charlie Brownz and asked if a classmate and I could hang our work. He said yes. That became my second art show. Cheap frames. Handwritten labels. I remember the glow through the front windows more than the pieces themselves.

Charlie Brownz is gone now, but last week AirBadge sent me to Wilmington NC to help install our software at ILM. Different mission. Different season of life, but the same brightly-lit street.

After the airport work wrapped up, I went downtown and found the old facade. I stood there in the evening light thinking about how the threads of art, tech, persistence, and opportunity had pulled together in that one tiny spot on the map. Student artist, software professional, and community builder: all these things present at once.

The ILM team was welcoming and so focused and prepared. Their energy made the trip feel even more like being invited back to my home community. Returning to North Carolina reminded me why I started making and sharing work in the first place: connection.

I left Wilmington grateful that my path isn't a straight line. And grateful that sometimes we get to revisit an old doorway and recognize how far we have actually traveled.

Thank you Wilmington: I hope I get to come back soon!