Not that there are a lot of you at the moment, but there are a few people that poke around the site every so often. I see notifications on the good old book of face when people look at the related page for the project every week or two. You'll have to pardon the silence, I've been living my life for once. Sometimes it doesn't even feel like it's the same life, almost like there was some skip in the record and I got to switch tracks to something I'm digging a lot more than what was playing before.
In March of 2016, my life changed in a profound way. I was hesitant, didn't want to let my hopes run away and set me up for another run through the emotional grinder, but the more time passed and the more experiences were shared, the less it felt like anything I've ever experienced before and the more sure of it I became.
In March of 2016, I met the woman that would come to be the love of my life. We were both cautious because we didn't want to be hurt if it didn't work out. We took our time, talked at length, enjoyed each others' company, and before long we were spending more time together than apart.
As some of you know and others might have guessed from the photo, I also bought a house. For three whole weeks of independence, I got to enjoy it. A freak rainstorm teamed up with some assholes working on a drainage project to ruin everything though. My little corner of the street flooded ankle deep in the living room. The house was as water logged as a mattress tossed in a river. With all of that moisture, the underlying mold bloomed hard. As we started ripping things out to recover and replace, we found problem after problem with the house. It probably should have been razed and rebuilt if I had the funds for such a thing, but alas, I don't. It's slow going, but progress is being made and I think it'll be a fine house to live in for 5-10 years until finances are in place to design and build a custom house on the right piece of property.
But wait, there's more! I'm sure many of my friends and family recall, at some point, a bold statement that I would never have children. I had many reasons I thought this would be the case. Turns out I really just needed the right person in my life. Funnily enough, she felt the same way I did, until we were faced with the reality of it. It was an unexpected and intense day, but after we had some time to process this new information, we both realized we were very comfortable with the idea of having children together. It brought us closer together and opened a door we both assumed was shut forever. Our son will be joining the world this summer, and I really can't wait to meet him.
So, in summary;
-Some of my goals from the last update didn't get met. I don't have my falconry license because there are more important construction projects in my life than a mews at the moment. I don't have a dark room for the same reason.
-I kicked depression to the curb and haven't seen it since. At no point in my life have I been happier and more content than I am now. There have been rough patches like watching my 'shiny new house' flood with all of my stuff in it, but they haven't held me down in a stranglehold like bad times used to because of the fact that...
-I met the love of my life, we're set to get married, and our son is well on his way to joining us.
I haven't kept up with this site pretty much at all because I haven't had the means to work on my photography for the gallery, and when I'm not working on the house, I'm spending time with my love enjoying almost every minute of life for the first time in my life. That said, I do have some ideas in mind for the site in the coming year (since I already missed the date to cancel service and I'm paid up for a full year anyway), so maybe there will be more updates in 2017...
Till then.