Now, as a fully-fledged human adult, I'm faced with a similar dilemma. I don't know what to tell people when they ask where I live. I'm not sure when exactly it happened, but sometime in the last year I became an official hobo.
Most of my stuff is in Atlanta, but I'll be there a total of 20 days between September and December. I'll be in Texas quite a bit this fall because I have a number of shows closer to DFW and it's logistically easier to launch from there, but I don't technically live in Texas. In fact, I'll be in close to 30 cities and states in the next few months.
"Is that a good thing?" a family friend recently asked when I shared my current situation.
Life lately has been so crazy I hadn't stopped to wonder if this new normal was, in fact, "good." My life is uncommon, yes. But is it good?
Is a life with no roots and little consistency and different faces and locations every week good? Is a life lived in front of audiences and behind well-manicured social media updates good? Is a life lived out of a suitcase good?
"Yes," I responded. "It's good for today."
I get to support myself with creativity and goofiness. I get to bring an accordion all over the country. I get to share the stage with incredible speakers and artists I look up to and admire. I look at my life and feel immense gratitude for the gifts I've been given.
None of these things, however, ultimately make my current life good.
My situation is good for today because it's where God has me today. My circumstances are good because God uses them to gently shape me, discipline me, and move me toward holiness. I see Him using my travels to strengthen my trust in Him, build long-distance friendships, and grow my compassion for people from all walks of life. My life is only good because He is with me.
Then, I got a follow up question.
"Will you keep doing this long-term?"
Questions about the future are my least favorite questions. They stir up fear in me like nothing else. Will I still be right where I am in 5 years? 10 years? What if all the work dries up? What if I'm so focused on this I miss out on the rest of life? WHAT IF WHAT IF WHAT IF?!
When I start trying to imagine the future, I completely "what if" myself out of today's joy.
The past 18 months have brought almost every kind of hurt imaginable. Two years ago I couldn't have predicted my life would look like what I'm living today. I wasn't a full time comedian yet. I hadn't suffered grief and loss and trauma and heartbreak so intensely, so succinctly.
And yet, through this hurt--hurt I never would've chosen and, if given the choice, would completely undo--came an unexpected gift: peace for today.
Every couple years I read C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters. In the book, the demon Screwtape coaches his nephew on how to tempt and lure people away from God.
In one section, Screwtape instructs Wormwood (his nephew) to try and get his "patient" to become consumed with anxieties about the future.
"The duty of planning tomorrow's work is today's duty; though its material is borrowed from the future, the duty, like all duties, is in the Present."
I will continue planning for tomorrow, because it's wise to do so. I will hone my skills as a comic, book shows, write books, and save money for lean seasons. That is today's work. And then, I'll (do my best to) live in the present and enjoy the graces and mercies the Lord's laid out for me right now.
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