This is going to sound incredibly cheesy, but this little oyster marks a turning point in my life.

At the time it was just a Hog Island Sweetwater - briny and salty and creamy, doused in Frank's Red Hot - but in the year since, this photo has come to symbolize more than that. I ate this little guy as part of a press trip to a winery promoting their summer event series; after a year of trying to build my business as a freelance writer and marketing consultant, I realized then that it had all paid off - I was doing what I set out to do. This was also…