He was born and raised in South Georgia and left at age 23 after coming out in Piedmont Park, boarding a plane soon after for Portland, Oregon. He spent the next 14 years there living more fully as himself, with some of my most meaningful time spent in rural southern Oregon, on and around the Wolf Creek Radical Faerie Sanctuary. In 2018, he felt a strong pull to return to Atlanta, where he launched his career in massage therapy. It was also here that he faced and survived stage 3 esophageal cancer. Each chapter of his journey—geographical, professional, and deeply personal—has shaped who he is today: a 43-year-old gay man living without an esophagus, grounded in resilience, authenticity, and lived experience.