Chapter 2: Dancing with Demons

I am a city person. I make this statement with absolute certainty. Growing up in rural Kentucky, I craved the hustle and bustle of a large, metropolitan area. Attending the University of Kentucky and staying in Lexington to teach scratched that particular itch for 12 years, but I grew restless. When I had an opportunity to attend graduate school in a much larger, Midwestern city, I took the leap and moved almost 500 miles away from the Bluegrass. While I have looked back, I have never regretted the decision.

I attended one of the many universities in the city, completed my doctoral work and dissertation, became a high school administrator, and eventually met my husband. When my husband and I found 4,000 square feet of raw, wonderful space in the heart of our downtown, I could not imagine a more perfect, albeit rough, place to make our home. It was everything we wanted: open space, exposed brick, proximity to restaurants, shops, entertainment, and people—lots of people, right outside our front door.