My 30th Birthday

       So, first I want to say thank you for taking the time to read my article. I realize that you could be doing a number of things other than consuming my content. I also want to thank you, because by participating, you are helping me fulfill my dream to share my message with others.

       So, today is my 30th birthday. It’s nothing like I thought. I now feel like a Y2K conspirator. I assumed that something dramatic would change as I aged the same way that I had done the year before. Instead, I was blessed to be bombarded with love from the ones that matter most to me starting on the 29th of March. It’s really a sobering feeling to think that life really is a journey or a game or a path that we all will embrace in different ways. I am blessed to have a partner in life that will be my biggest supporter and biggest critic all wrapped up in a little warm body. (As an unrelated side note, the woman beside me on our flight bought my first drink which I am drinking at 9 am). Moving on, I am really thankful for how Cassie has evolved me and our relationship. I am even more excited about how our relationship will continue to evolve. It’s seems the future will include marriage, kids, family, wealth building, and all the other surprises that life may bring.  As I look back on my first 30 years, what have I learned? I have always known, but continue to evolve my understanding of the importance of family. I once looked at the term “family”, and thought only of my nuclear family, now the word encompasses so much more. Family represent the people that you are most vulnerable with, the ones you believe in, the ones you worry the most about, the ones who make you the happiest and the ones who make you the  saddest. As I hit thirty, I realize that family is what really matters most, because when all the cards are down and you are are at your worst, they are there. They are also the ones you party the hardest with when you are up. In my first 30 years, I have learned that it’s ok to not subscribe to gender roles or anything for that matter. I mean rules, laws, stereotypes, religion, education, are at the end of the day, all choices. Understanding that, has freed me in a way that I never knew I could be free. At the end of the day, I am ME, unique in every way and I have to love that. I have to embrace that being unique means that I will follow my own path and make my own commitments and choices. Hell, I am a big crier, and it’s a weird thing to admit as a man. I am ok with loving all my friends and letting them know. I mean, nobody is a mind reader so, if don’t tell people how I feel, then how will they know? It’s a small box that we are all encouraged to live in. This box has walls that define most aspects of your life, what schools are best for me, what jobs are best for me, how I should dress, what I should drive, who I should love, how I should love, why I should love, where I should live, I mean everything. But, fuck that, in my first 30 years I have learned for sure the no two paths are the same. In a very literal way, that is impossible, because of time and choice and circumstance, but mostly because we are all individuals. I have learned in my first 30 years that I am more spiritual than religious or evangelical. I mean I love God, but religion in it self goes against many of the principles that are innate human characteristic, but in that same note, religion is just what some people want and need. I love the quote Cassie told me “question everything you are most certain about.” It’s so contrary everything we are taught, but so freeing to simply ask “why.” It’s not a bad question, but in my first 30 years of life, the quotes by Einstein sums it up best “ if you can’t explain it simply, you simply don’t understand it well enough.” I realize that people who can’t make what they are talking about simple, they probably are still are trying to understand it then self. Where we get caught up is hitting mile markers and feeling burdened to now teach because we are supposed to be able to. At the end of the day, we as humans are simple, complex creatures of habit. So, your truth may not be mine, or maybe it is, but there is a truth for sure.  At the end of the day, I am thankful for all that life has given me, and excited about what’s next. Now, off to ATL!!!!!