An Amazing Year
My day is almost over.
I say ‘my’ day cuz your birthday is kinda like the one day you can own.
Having a birthday so close to New Years is a funny thing. You hear the very loud ‘Click’ of the odometer as it slams from the end of one year into the next.
I’ve never really celebrated my birthdays much, until now. More about that later...
As far as years I’ve collected, this last one was a doozy. It was a difficult year. And an amazing year.
It had a rocky start, a rocky middle and a rocky end, but somehow there was so much joy and newness and courage and love to be found everywhere.
In business I took some chances that I had never done before.
I hired expensive marketing experts to help me figure out what I didn't know and how to carry out my business better. In my frustration after firing one after another, I heard my own voice calling to me, ‘Trust your audience. Trust YOURSELF, James. You got this.’ So, now that voice is the one I follow.
I’ve taken an even more active role with my kiddos and their schooling.
I am not a fan of the education system, but I am a big advocate for learning and loving to learn. So that is what I have to teach them.
The biggest change is that I found someone I wanted more than my own breath.
She bought a print from me. Because of a shipping issue, I had to follow up and ask if she had received the work. She had, and sent me a lovely photo of her ‘Weird Kid’ print framed with her beautiful dog in the photo. ‘Nice puppy’ I replied… and we started chatting long distance.
I’d like to say we fell in love and that was that.
We did fall in love, but there was a lot of work to be done—by me. Shannon is a good woman. A phenomenal woman. It sounds funny, but I had never met a woman—hell, even a person like her. One who knows her value, has matchless integrity, striking common sense and incredible beauty.
I had been alone too long. My integrity had gotten… sloppy. I had to clean up my habits to not only deserve a friend like Shannon, but if I wanted all the richness available from my own life.
I failed a lot. And, rightfully, she left me more than once.
But I knew who I was. I knew I was a good man and that I deserved a fine woman. I just had to do the work.
Shannon is the reason I celebrate my birthday. To her it’s important I celebrate everything about me. See why I’m so smitten?
So me is now ‘We’ and I’ll tell you more about Shannon soon...
I have learned so much this past year:
That marketing is having something to say, and saying it. Again and again.
That the only expert is me–and occasional failure.
I learned that love is an everyday, every hour living thing. A constant creation between two people.
That to be a good partner you have to listen, to really listen and feel and see what your partner needs from you.
I learned that if something is precious to you, you never quit on it.
That doing ‘the hard stuff’ means facing yourself and your weakness and understanding that the resistance is your ego and bad habits that have to go bye bye.
Y'all have been there for me, supported me and I thank you eternally from the richness of my heart and the simplicity of my words.
This, today, is the start of something new. Thank you for being here for me and us. I trust you and I believe in you.
…and i love you all.
James
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(and there may just be a birthday code for YOU for 50% OFF that works for a few more hours! Try BDAY50! )
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