Summer of Yes

The worst winter ever officially recorded in Nashville has finally ended! Three months of bad weather, snow days, broken office heaters, and amazingly horrific driving is hopefully coming to an end...and it got me thinking....

The last 3 months or so have not only been out of the ordinary temperature wise, but for me personally there have been changes in my life that have brought me to a place where I'm excited about the future and the possibilities for what's next. I turned 37 this year and it was the first time a birthday came and went and left me feeling like I was actually getting older. I spent some time looking back on the last 15-20 years or so of my life and realized a few things...

I started dating a girl when I was 17...we got married when I was 20...and got divorced at 33. Along the way had 2 great kids, started and sold a business, did a ton of traveling, drank a lot of beer, and met some great people. But in all of the good and bad of the last 20 years or so, it occurred to me that I have never really been alone. After the divorce, there were a series of girlfriends - great girls who I was lucky to have in my life - but I never took any real time to reflect and enjoy my life as just a member of the human race and not as someones husband or boyfriend, or even as 'dad'...and while I've done quite a bit, lived a lot of life, it has always been within the context of something other than me.

So it brings me here...I spent the last 2 years dating a beautiful Kentucky girl who any guy would be lucky to have. She wanted to get married and I didn't. I could go into all of the complexities of how that played out but its senseless and can really be summed up with one phrase - it didn't work out. So rather than joining match.com...or hanging out at the Boundry...I've decided to make the most of this time and do something I've never done before...be single. I'm sure I will date a little, but I think that is part of the experience of being single...so to dating I'm saying yes too.

The Summer of Yes is an experiment and challenge to myself...say yes to the adventure of being alive. Enjoy my kids, my friends, my job, and all of the amazing people I have in my life for the sake of enjoying them...and say yes to new opportunities, adventures, and things I've never done before...or haven't done enough. There will be road trips, baseball games, traveling, and plenty of beer to balance out some exercise I hope. This is my Summer of Yes.