The Second Installment...

The Second of which is: Family

What is family? What makes a good family structure?

For me it’s the bond that is shared between groups of people that no matter what, you are there for each other. It’s a love that can only be explained by having roots that form deep in the soul and a sense of belonging in long standing traditions from generations of history.

Family hardens the personal morals and ethics that keep us grounded, and we pass these down to whomever we meet, and to the family we might eventually create.

What if you don’t have a family directly? You don’t know where you came from? Displaced?

Your best of friends are often the best family. It’s still the camaraderie between like-minded individuals; striving toward the ultimate goal of sharing life with the people that make it bearable to live.

It’s the soothing notion that when you drive across town or country that open arms will be waiting for you; the notion that when you pick up the phone and make a call it will be like no time passed at all.

Extended Family gives an all new meaning to the term family. It encompasses a whole new life that is shared with a loved one. The extended family is like a family you never knew existed, yet always knew were there. 

They are the newest edition to life that makes sharing a life with a loved one so worthwhile.

A lot of time has passed since the writing of my first part almost two years ago…

…Including marrying that girl I told you about - 09/13/12

Respect is taken, when respect is given…

Namaste and Slainte

~BG~

The First of 3

A new stage in my life begins soon, and there are three points I wish to reflect upon.

The first of which is: Friends.

Through life, in every step of the way, the friends are what help guide us in the social realm. Through the many ups and downs of a friendship, there is always a friend around to help guide us through whichever time we are experiencing. Guidance is such a loose term to describe what we actually get from a friendship, but the path we walk often makes us stumble and we are always grateful of the helping hand we receive. Or the path may show us something funny, and we have a friend with which to laugh.

There is always the friend we can go to when the worst of times happens. The shoulder and ear they provide is immeasurably coveted at every ill step. The one that is there, no matter what; a text, a call, or a meet they always take the time to make everything better.

Then there is the friend that makes us goofy, because we can act goofy and feel safe doing so. There is always a laugh and a smile to be had, and it doesn't matter the current disposition, good times are always had.

There may even be friends that are no longer with us, but have left a lasting impression one way or another. And to them I say Thank You.

There are also the friends that you might have known for 30 years! Those are the ones that have such a deep incalculable meaning, that they are here for a lifetime. Then there are the ones that you may have met recently, that you just have that feeling you will be in good contact with for a long time to come. Friends are all so uniquely different, there is no telling when you might meet the next one!

I am so very proud of the friends I have in life; to be able to share good times and sympathize during the rough times. They have all shaped my life into the person I am today, and I am a better person because of them. And as I venture to the next stage in life, I tell you all – I appreciate your worth in how you have enriched my life.

I once had in my Email signature “A person without a soul friend, is a person without a head.” Friends keep us grounded in everything we do.

I am also lucky to have found in a person the one true friend that I can always go to whenever something is troubling me, and the one who makes me laugh constantly - I get to marry her in September.

Respect is taken, when respect is given ...

Namaste and Slainte

~BG~

New Year Anew

Full of so many new wondrous endeavors complete with many new and exciting people!

How awesome is it that technology can help people re-connect, as I have with several people from my past, or connect with brand new ones? That’s why I’m in the technology field!

Hear hear to the Johnny Snows! What an awesomely good group of people!

My two best friends are still in my life, for which I am eternally grateful...

So many life altering events have taken place this past year! But one I feel compelled to write about more than most…

When I was 10 or so, I had a vision of the number 32. The next couple of years I had a couple more visions relating to this number, with scenes I would equate to having to do with my age. Some were very dark, and for a long time those dark scenes were all I could remember. These visions translated that something life-altering would come about during this age in my life. I now know that it was for the positive, as I have met the woman of my dreams-that I in fact had a vision of at a very young age. If not for technology and Facebook, I would never have found her. The fates, once again, steered me onto this path with her almost a year and a half ago, and I’m so glad that we started dating over the summer!

Moving in with her, thusly sharing my life with her, is the biggest life-altering experience I could have hoped for…moral of this story is to never give up, even when life seems darkest. Thinking positively only brings you the very brightest of stars and dreams come true…

Here’s to a great 2010, with many more brilliant endeavors and fantastic people with awesomely great times ahead!

Respect is taken, when respect is given...

Namaste and Slainte!
~BG~

True Christmas

“Let us pray that strength and courage abundant be given to all who work for a world of reason and understanding, that the good that lies in every man’s heart may day by day be magnified, that men will come to see more clearly not that which divides them, but that which unites them, that each hour may bring us closer to a final victory, not of nation over nation, but of man over his own evils and weaknesses, that the true spirit of this Christmas season — it’s joy, its beauty, its hope, and above all its abiding faith — may live among us, that the blessings of peace be ours — the peace to build and grow, to live in harmony and sympathy with others, and to plan for the future with confidence.”

Something my grandma had hand transcribed 60 years ago - she had kept this as a prayer ever since...

Respect is taken, when respect is given...

Namaste and Slainte
~BG~

Emotion Motion

The past few days have been a whirlwind of emotional highs and lows. I don't think I've ever had quite this many all at one time! Strangely honorific, in the sense that I had the pleasure to experience them all at once!

My best friend Ben I have known since I was six, and since first grade. We've been running around together ever since! I call him my best friend, because we're so oddly different in almost every ideology. That doesn't seem to matter since we always seem to have a good time in each other's company. We know what not to talk about, it seems, out of respect for what the other might believe - but that leaves so much more to just babble and reminisce - it's a great emotion of compassion and sentimentality knowing I have a friend as great as he...

The end of one of the best summers yet, and the beginning of the work week. This summer break has been awesome, in that I got to see so many Kansas family members, and met a few new ones that are a wonderful edition to have been able to get to know! New places with a new great group of people (Stop it now I mean it! Anybody have a peanut? lol), have been exciting! Roswell and Estes Park were supremely grand getaways! And the beginning of another awesome year at a job I love, brings emotions of anticipation and optimism to fruition...

A small furry friend passed away, and it was disheartening to say the least. He meant so much to so many, that he was not just a pet, but a member of a clan - an extensive clan comprised and compiled of many well-to-do good people, that I shared in their loss with sadness, grief, and sorrow ...

I talked at length with a friend about emotion Monday night, and how it might play tricks at times, or maybe it is the real thing each time an occurance that resembles that emotion presents itself. I'd like to think that emotions never change, they are always true, but the people and places within them are the only things that change. This is a friend that we share oddly similar views on almost everything. Emotions of zest, contentment, cheerfulness, pride, passion, exhilleration, enthrallment and the list can go on and on, is what this friend has given to me all at once- but most of all, I give this friend my utmost respect...

So my several part question is can emotion be controlled, should it be controlled, or it should be left alone to soak in all that humanity has to offer? (Even if it does come all at once ;-)

Respect is taken, when respect is given ...

Namaste and Slainte
~BG~