Leslie Bailey: My next great adventure

I have spent most of my life terrified that my parents were going to die.

When I was growing up, one or both were always sick. And I don’t mean they caught a lot of colds. When I was in kindergarten, my dad had prostate cancer. A few years later, my mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. Then brain cancer. Somewhere in there, my dad had a lung cancer scare (they sport matching scars). There have been years and years of TIAs, seizures, other surgeries and health scares. This past October, my mom had a stroke.

I’m 32, living in another state, starting my own family, in my own home. I have a great job, a roof over my head and food on the table.

I don't mean to sound greedy or ungrateful, but I'm going to come out and say it: I feel a little cheated. I want more time with my parents — uninterrupted, quality time. Not time in hospital rooms making life decisions in a state of exhaustion and fear.

I want them to get to know my fiancé and his family. I want to learn everything my mom knows about food and gardening. I want to write a book with my dad about his more than 50-year career in motorsports. And I want to do it now.

But that’s not all. I want my parents to see me pursue my passions, just they pursued theirs. I want them to know that I wake up every day doing what it is I want to do.

So, in order to spend more time with my family and pursue personal projects, this will be my last column as a full-time reporter at IndyStar.

I have decided to return to freelancing, which is what I was doing when The Adventuress column began.

As The Adventuress, I got to experience some really cool things and then write about them. I tended honeybees, swam with dolphins and played with wolves. I went around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an IndyCar with Mario Andretti. Then I did it again on the back of a MotoGP bike. I piloted planes and soared through the sky in a giant cucumber blimp. I trained with Colts cheerleaders, attended circus school and learned to play hockey, curling and horse polo.

The truth is, I’m exhausted.

Kidding! I am more excited than ever about what is happening in Indy. I feel so fortunate to have covered some of the most interesting people, trends and things to do for the past six years. I hope you've enjoyed joining me through print, photos, videos, online and sometimes, in person. I believe my job is the best in the city, which makes it all the more difficult to leave. The good news is you’ll still see my byline pop up occasionally.

I’m thankful for the opportunity I’ve had to work with such an incredibly talented and dedicated team of people, including those at our partner, Fox59. Thanks for letting me cut my TV teeth on your big, red couch. I'm also thankful for you, our readers. Thank you for keeping me in a job, reading my work, challenging me, supporting me and making me a better journalist.

There have been a number of stories that have been difficult to write. There was the essay about my battle with depression. There was the one about my friend who died while waiting for a heart. I find myself writing this with the same lump in my throat. I can't tell you how much I'm going to miss my co-workers. It gives me a bit of a pain in my stomach to think they'll be bantering about the day's news and sharing inside jokes without me. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to my editors, Amanda Kingsbury and Jennifer Morlan. Thank you for guiding me, pushing me, believing in me, hearing out my crazy ideas and, more often than not, helping me bring them to fruition.

Moving forward, I know my work won't necessarily be easy or predictable. But if there's one thing I've learned during my time here, it's that it's important to be open to the next adventure. I'm ready for mine.

Follow Leslie Bailey on Twitter @Lesalina, facebook.com/lesalina and Instagram @Lesalina.