Let us celebrate...

Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words. - Plautus

i like that. and that's what i intend to do. 31 comes at an odd time this year. not in the sense of the day on the calendar, but in the timing. it almost slips by in the wash of wedding planning, a new album, searching for a place to live, and the lot. but i'm about to turn 31. and i hear the inevitable comments; from the younger-you're old, and from the older-you're young. i guess both are true from their vantage points, but from mine, i'm turning 31. that's all i know it to be. i can't jump ahead to experience a different year, and i can't go back (nor would i want to. i can't remember 18 or 21 that much anymore, and 25 is faded by sweet red wine). so 31, here i am...

i have come to enjoy the wine and words over gifts. while i appreciate the sentiment of a well thought-out gift and the beautiful wrapping, i really just want some time with my loved ones. last year, i was blessed to spend time with two of my best friends, one of whom is now my fiancee. big to-do, fancy evening? not quite. mexican food from puerto nuevo and margaritas at amanda's house. one of the best nights of my life. it ended with a long, front porch conversation with keri rose, while we both partook of a clove cigarette. little did i know that the feelings inside me were mutual. five days later, we went on our first date. and here we are.

this years birthday holds in store the same three people, but this time, heading to charlotte, nc to see ben folds. i am excited. for ben folds, yes. he is amazing. but more for the time with them. my dear friends. people who i love. people who love me. let us celebrate...

::the who's, what's, where's and why's::

hello blog-world,
to say that i've been absent from here is a tad misleading. its been over a year, and i simply didn't care. which is in itself odd, because the last year has proven to be one of, if not the most dramatic and transforming years of my life. here's the dealy: i started dating the most beautiful and wonderful girl that i've ever met. somehow i tricked her into saying yes to my marriage proposal. we took some time off from the world to just be us. we hooked up with a new group of people at Arise Church. we don't fit in at all, and yet, that's exactly why we fit in there. i have been working on a new album. it took several different directions, and ended up somewhere i didn't expect. but its done, and i'm happy with that. as i type this, i am still reeling from an amazing cd release show last weekend, and i am 26 days and some change from my wedding day. unreal. the day is near. i am excited and at peace. i feel blessed and honored to be where i am. there seem to be a million possibilities on the horizon, but so far we've not lost ourselves to one with reckless abandon. there's a beauty in waiting. "The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck."- Emerson said that. i feel it.

so where does that leave things in this moment? finalizing wedding plans, booking shows, teaching music, loving my wife-to-be, taking care of two crazy dogs, finding time to write, and just living. enjoying living. life is a bicycle or a birdcage, you choose...