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The journey began what seemed like centuries ago but alas it has only been 7 years. My husband who worked in the film "biz" for more than 25 years, had become what happens to all in the "biz" at one point or another, he had become "old". Hollywood, even those behind the scenes, don't like old, it scares them. It scares them because they too are aging and no matter how much kambuchka tea they drink, botox they inject, or any other magical elixir that's the trend right now, they are getting old too. That's right you 28 year old executives out there, in just two stinkin' years you'll be 30 and all those evil things you have muttered under your breath about how "old" people just don't get it, you'll be one of them. It's true. Rare are the industry types that hire older people based on the fact that they have more experience and may just bring - heaven forbid - something new to the table. While I am 14 years my husband's junior, I have witnessed the insatiable ageism that is running rampant not just in Hollywood, but in our country . I have a theory about this but it may just hack a few baby boomers off, so I'll bite my tongue for now....

I have witnessed from the sidelines this industry and count my blessings that I never really got involved. Myself, I always fancied music, I played in bands from the time I was 13 and was able to play at some of the world famous clubs in Los Angeles. I was not a great musician, I wouldn't dare call myself sub-mediocre, but put me on stage with a guitar or just a microphone and I would happily make a complete and utter ass out of myself. That was my life until I became a mom. Boy did that put a crimp in my true aspirations, but life is funny that way. All in all, I did more than some and a heck of a lot less than others.

John Lennon once said "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."

So life did just that, happen in a way we never expected. Running the habi-trail wheel at full speed, going to meetings that never went anywhere. You know you can spend your whole life going to meetings and never go anywhere. False starts, failed promises but still, we kept treading. Treading so fast in the same place that the next thing we knew we were nearing the lower mantle of earth, and that was one hell of a pit to get out of. So we burst our personal real estate bubble and headed for the hills...the hills of West Virginia.

Personally, I had never been to West Virginia nor did I ever in a million years think I would live there...Washington or Oregon maybe, Northern California probably, New Mexico - it had been discussed...but never, ever, ever for one fleeting moment in all of my life did I say...I wanna go to Almost Heaven...I want those Country Roads to take me home to the place...I belong?????? I did not step foot on our property until 4 1/2 months after we purchased it, I had never lived anywhere outside of Los Angeles County before...here I was 37 years old going to a place I had never been to, to start all over, no family nearby, no close girlfriends within a 600 mile radius....well so long as my husband and I never have to hear again: "If you'll just do this one thing for me for free, I'll MAKE SURE you're hired on when we get the distributors money and the studio's okay..." Then you know country roads take me home...with the pancakes on the griddle. Hollywood is hell actually Hollywood isn't it's the self important self serving industry types that make it hell (stay tuned for my musings on visting L.A. after being gone several months) Advice to all those young adults from the country who want to go to the land where the streets are paved with gold and be a star...your best line of action: Learn how to say with attitude: Would you like your double venti cap with soy or nonfat?