I didn’t remember this story very well when I sat down to edit it for this project, then it came back to me in a sort of rush. This was inspired by my girlfriend at the time, now my wife, Erin. Erin is from Pittsburgh, and we did the long distance thing for quite a while before we got married. This story came about because we had a very similar conversation during one of her visits to New Orleans – she’s the one who likes to have adventures and explore, I’m the one who gets serious anxiety if he doesn’t know exactly where he is and where he’s going. We’re still that way. Although unlike certain characters in this story, I like to think I’m mature enough to recognize that life should probably be lived somewhere in between the two extremes.

Without spoiling anything, this is an example of my favorite subgenre of Christmas story.

Christmas 2009: Turn Right at the Sign