The quiet part out Loud

3/17/23 | Hey y'all, and happy St. Patrick's day! Here's a little history about why we celebrate this day, for anyone curious, and today I'm going to switch gears a little bit with a personal photo album and nostalgia. I found a CD of pictures next to where we used to have the computer looking for Samantha's ball this morning, and I didn't know what was on it but it was surrounded by other things from 2008 (the year after we moved to Southridge in Denton from Argyle), so I popped it in and it was like a time capsule. It had my High School Graduation, and some other family pictures from around then. Life was definitely simpler then, and I miss it. I added an acoustic frank sinatra "the way you look tonight" cover ( from the @ChaseEaglesonOfficial Youtube channel; creative commons, public domain, fair use) in the background and viola, it came out pretty nicely, I think. I didn't even know these pictures still existed until a couple hours ago, and when I saw them I thought about how with all the political stuff, I don't show much about myself (past or present) these days, or at least not as much as someone in controversial politics probably should. I guess I just don't feel all that important when so much is so obviously wrong, and though none of us are truly okay with it, because we didn't feel able to stand up for whatever reason, for our job security or somehting else , and it is only For that reason, I've felt the need to keep pushing ahead, and that meant I wasn't able to stop and smell the roses as much as I would have liked to; especially not lately. I love y'all, I love God, I love America without question, Texas will always be my home, and it will always be the place that taught me how to be a man. I believe in us, I believe we can get to that "better day we each know is possible," and that may arrive as early as this year if we decide it together; it's just a matter of going there with love in our hearts. I love this life, but, we can't be afraid for it to change to the extent we might hurt people in the country made to do what this one is for. In spite of ways it's been harder than reason says it ought to be, we still have hope, and that is true in spite of some scenarios where this story and this video could have been just as easily a video played at a funeral for another good died young, this time simply for trying better than I was allowed to.