Preachy Thanksgiving Message

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I wanted to do a little ditty about what I'm thankful for this year. The last year has been a crazy ride but I'm coming out of it very gracious for a lot of things. First and foremost I'm thankful and proud of my 8 months of sobriety. It feels miraculous to be so clear minded and I certainly couldn't have done it without all the support from my friends and family. Which leads me nicely to my friends and family. I'm truly grateful to have such a loving and supportive family and hands down the best group of friends a guy could ask for. These dudes have been through a ton with me and have always been right at my side rooting me on no matter what situation arises. I believe that there is nothing in this world that a guy can't accomplish when he has a strong support system around him, and I really have the strongest, we all have an incredible bond and a great love for each other. I think that is probably pretty rare today. Thank you guys for that.

I'm also really thankful to be back in Central MN. I know not everyone thinks this place is so great, bitching about the cold long winters or that there's a better scene somewhere else. Well, to that I say "pppssssshhhhh". Make your own scene people! The folks around here are truly some of the greatest in the world and if you open your eyes and get out a bit you will find that we live in a community full of amazing artists, musicians, motorcycle builders, hot rodders and some very pretty ladies. I really think that we have a great scene here. As far as the winters go, I really don't care. I like wearing long underwear and let's face it, I look damn good in long sleeve flannel shirts so bring it on.

I'm very thankful to be able to call myself a business owner this year with the launch of Live Young Die Fast. I'm beyond grateful to my excellent friend, roommate, hetero life partner and Artistic Director Pat for all that he brings to the table as both a human being in general and a business partner. I could not and would not want to live the dream of running LYDF without Pat. There are so many other people that have played a role in LYDF from buying and wearing our gear to their moral support. A huge thanks to all of those people as well, you know who you are.

If you didn't really get it from the above reading, I'm just generally thankful for the life that I have today. I'm sober, got a good job, a great living situation, amazing friends and family and just generally feel like I really am "living the dream". I think the major key in all of this has been my sobriety, getting sober has taught me a lot. I feel like the last year has taught me so much that I've compiled a list of my rules to life (because I'm so all knowing and shit):
-tell your friends and family you love them often
-laugh hard enough that your face hurts, a lot
-be nice to people until they don't deserve it anymore
-listen to music really loud
-take risks, what's the worst that could happen?
-don't let anyone ever tell you what you "have to" do
-do whatever you want in life as long as it doesn't harm others and do it now
-don't take yourself seriously
-always shift in front of girls, no matter what
-don't wait for life to happen, make it happen
-just relax and be nice
-send me cash gifts I'm brainwashing you....

I feel like this is getting all preachy so I'm gonna stop now. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone! Travel safe and enjoy whatever it is that you're doing today.