All right, slap me.
It's been almost two full years since I last wrote here (until recently getting back into it), and to my own defense, I have been trying to get used to an amazing change in an incredible new life. I'm slowly getting into the groove here. Marriage will do that to you. Let me say first and foremost, the state of being married is such an amazing place to be in. My wife, as some of you know, is everything I ever prayed for and dreamt about. Every day I am reminded how waiting for the right person really paid off. Neither one of us would've been good for the other had we met twenty years ago. It just goes to show, God has plans.
So, we got married, saved up some money, paid off a lot of debt and built a house. We have a good plan for our lives and are in it hand in hand; a team effort. The laughter we share is contagious and I love the way she looks at me when my antics confuse her to no end. My relationship with my step-daughter has prospered further than I could've ever imagined. She no longer wants to burn me alive and treats me with (mostly) respect. We share an amazing playfulness and have our own routines that I couldn't have imagined when this journey started. There are still some things to work on (and there always will be. I'm not an idiot.) but I find a great relief in knowing she accepts me as a step-father and role model for her life. And that is no small responsibility.
I'm enjoying my work and am trying to gain as much experience as I can while I'm here. It keeps me busy and challenged and I like that.
In what little spare time I have, I've been writing a novel. I have several ideas for one but I chose this one because the basic outline has already been done through a screenplay I wrote with my friend Chuck Whitlock years ago, called "The Messengers". It's literally been "in the making" for a little over a decade. Sigh. But, I'm feeling really good about the possibility of finishing it. I've already gotten about thirty pages written (transcribed from only nine pages of the script so I'm going to have a great first draft.) and am looking forward to where the dusty road takes me.
All in all, these words are written by a happy man; a man who honestly never thought he would be allowed to experience such profound love and joy. I am thankful. No longer am I waiting for the proverbial rugs to be pulled out from under every endeavor I try, no longer am I stewing a victimized mentality or a "woe-is-me" complex. No. I refuse to let the darkness win. There is no room for shadow in the light. The shadows only distract and writing about them helps me keep the light on.
I'm just a man.
Who is a husband, a best friend, a step-father, a son and a son-in-law, a grandson, and a human... being; living the best I can with the only life I know.
Let's keep going.
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