When I woke up that morning, I didn’t think I’d be on my hands and knees, crawling around in the office like an idiot – with balloons tied to my wrist, no less. Trying my absolute hardest to make sure he – or as he was known among my friends, ‘the diner guy’ – wouldn’t see me.

It bears repeating. With balloons attached to my wrist. Professional, right? That’s me. Charlie Davis.

It was supposed to be a completely ordinary Monday morning. Nothing more, nothing less. Just as ordinary as the rest of my days,
weeks and… well, life.

Wake up.

Make your bed.

Jump in the shower.

Get out of the shower, realize what time it is and then just start running around, as if finding what to wear for work is a completely new concept rather than something you do every day. And then, of course, rush through the New York streets to work at your dad’s crisis management company.

At twenty- five years old, my life had already turned into a boring routine. Go to work, come home, sleep and repeat. Maybe throw in an after- work drink with Rick and Gayle once or twice a week, but even that was too far and between.

I was done with it. Truthfully, I’d been done with it for a while, but I was done done with it this time around, and I was determined to do something. Moving away from New York had to be the first thing on the list. It would change my life drastically. I knew it.

Everybody knew it. Get away, run away – whatever you want to call it – I needed to move. I was hoping that would be the first step to a better life for myself.

Technically there was no list just yet, but when I did finally write down the things that were on my mind, moving would be the top priority. The only problem was I’d talked about it so much and yet had done nothing, so nobody tended to believe me whenever I said I was going to move. But this time I was serious about it. Being unapologetically honest was going to be the next thing on the list.

It was going to be a great beginning. A new start to my life. The only difference in my schedule for this particular Monday was that instead of heading straight to work, I was supposed to drop by the bakery and pick up a cake for Rob, who was having his last day at the office. And, maybe if I had enough time, some fun balloons. For the cake, we collected money at the office, but the balloons were going to be my little touch to put a smile on Rob’s face, because he was one of the few people I actually enjoyed being around at the office and he had a ready smile for everyone. Not to mention he often played referee between me and my dad and was almost like an uncle to me…