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My grandma used to cut me down when I said I wanted to be a comedian. Not that she didn’t love me, she was awesome, she just thought I should learn a skilled trade like carpentry, because there is no money in being a comedian.

I never pursued that dream. Instead, I was satisfied with being the funny guy in whatever group of friends I was with. Wrote satire in the school paper, did some theater stuff, kept a journal of my writing. All hobby type stuff. Eventually I got married and started a family and became a working guy. I got involved as youth leader for my church and worked my way up the retail management chain of command. My grandma was pleased, I was happy, my family was healthy and life was good. But something was still missing. . .

A number of years later I landed myself a desk job with way too much freedom to use the internet. I found myself starting up a blog, then becoming a profuse blogger with a sharp comedic wit about me. My weekly mini-features landed me a small writing gig for Punchlinemagazine.com just after they started. I kept writing comedy, I kept blogging about comedy, interviewing headliners and coveting the time they get to spend on stage.

I attended the Stand-up Bootcamp last over the summer this year and learned how get things started on my own. How to find out who I really am as a comic and a writer. How to get my funny across in the fewest words possible, and a little about how to allow myself to be just vulnerable enough to let the crowd see who I really am.

During the day of workshopping before the showcase, I came up with an idea and headliners thought is was funny and were excited to be part of it. That night on stage, my idea played out. It was awkward, confused the crowd at first, and then it killed and it was all caught on tape with a three camera shoot in HD. I have taken that tape and have gone on to currently being a contender for the 2009 Andy Kaufman Award and have started up my own Open Mic at a coffee shop in my home town. That night on stage at the bootcamp was my first time on stage at a club.

My grandma had died just three weeks before I left for the bootcamp. She would have hated that I am accepting that I am a comedian but she would have loved to hear how I made those people laugh.

I could go on and on about the sacrifices my wife has made to help make this dream career become a reality, share details about how money is always tight, how my youngest son has Autism, or how easy it is to say “well, maybe someday later, life is just too complicated right now”, but the truth is, that once you have done EVERYTHING you can to make you dream a reality and you start to see it happen – you’ll get that affirmation that it was worth it and that you are right where you ought to be.