Mike's Grand World

“It’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.”

I disagree.

Loving and lost implies emotional pain.  Something that is often very hard to get over.

To have never loved at all implies that one has gone through life without love but I believe that this is better option because it doesn’t involve the same emotional pain.

The best case scenario is: “It’s better to have never loved and lost but to find true love that lasts forever…”   This is what I hope to find one day…

Not only are the holidays coming up (and rather quickly), but also the anniversary of my father’s death. That means a few trips to Alabama in the next month and a half.

Next week is Thanksgiving... ah, Turkey day. The family gathered around a table of massive amounts of food and of course… football. But I think like most holidays, the meaning keeps getting lost. We should enjoy the time with our families and our friends. All of our loved ones. Be thankful for what we have and most importantly who we have in our lives.

We get caught up in our everyday lives (me included) and forget about what’s really important. It’s not all of the stuff we have amassed… no matter how small or how big. Or how much we brag (that would be me) or how little we brag (that would not be me)… But it’s about people in our lives. I know that without my family and my friends, I would really be sad, lost and lonely.

I really do love all of you, my family and my friends. I sometimes can’t say it enough and at other times feel like I say it too much… but can we really say it too much?

In my MySpace surveys, there always seems to be a question “What is your biggest regret?” Normally, I don’t give any, but I do have a big regret… not telling my dad that I loved him enough … or even at all. I don’t know if it’s some man thing where we both knew that it was understood… but after his death in 2000… it really hit home that I never took time out to say “I love you, Dad.” And that, I do regret. It’s been almost 7 years since his death and I still miss him so much. If you haven’t seen it already, I have a tribute site up for him. Take some time and look at it. He was such an amazing man. He left big shoes to fill. I am still trying to fill them.

Then, the next thing will be Christmas. Already Wal-Mart has a nice sign displaying the number of shopping days until Christmas. It’s not even Thanksgiving, yet. Though, I do love giving gifts to my family (I don’t normally exchange with friends… my family is large enough to kill my finances!!!) and yes, I do like to receive… Christmas has become way too commercial. Companies and retailers count on Christmas dollars to finance a large part of their year…

But that is not what Christmas is about. For my Christian brothers and sisters, it is about the birth of Christ. The giving of gifts came from the 3 wisemen who came to find Christ and offer their gifts of gold, frankincense, and Myrrh… and that has gone to Cars and fur coats and jewelry… I have no problem with the giving/receiving of gifts… as long as we don’t lose sight of why we are giving and receiving these gifts…

But also, like Thanksgiving, Christmas is a time to celebrate with our family and friends.

So, this holiday season, remember what we are celebrating and why we are celebrating. I know that this year, I won’t and can’t forget…

Peace and love to you all!

It wasn’t until I found a note written by Shannon that got me looking for her online… there are millions on MySpace.

I actually found her.  Amazing what a Google search and some time can do.  And then, a MySpace search from what I learned from Google…

Sounds like Shannon is doing well.  Married with a 2 year old.  Happy.  🙂  The Office Depot days, specifically at store 369 on Memorial Parkway… we had a lot of fun, but also a lot of work.  Somehow, we knew how to balance it.  Of course, a day didn’t go by that I didn’t piss off a customer or two!  Haha… Shannon is just one whom I have found online that worked there.  Samantha and Sheila (who I think only worked at store 69 but I also knew her from Food World, too.)… and my friend Roger, who’s on my friends list, too.

So, I went through some old emails and started looking for other old friends… and I found Becca.  Oh, how I loved her back in the day.  The distance was too great like most… She in Oregon.  I was in Alabama.  I was just 21 and in school.  She was 18 and in school.  We chatted on these old TELNET programs called “EW-TOO” talkers… chatrooms, in other words.  I am so glad to have found her again.  Now living in Ohio.  She’s a doll.  I only wished that she lived down here in GA… I am happy that she is coming for a visit soon… how soon?  Probably not soon enough!  Heck, she might not want to go back! 🙂

And then, I looked for another friend fro mthe talker days.  Shana.  I remember visiting Shana and her best friend Carrie in Knoxville in 96 (thank goodness I kept my old DayRunner for just such an occasion).  Another Google search and I found her at UGA… That’s not too far from here.  After some brief emails, she has some bad news for me.  Carrie had died in early 2006 of leukemia… I have such fond memories of not only the trip to Knoxville but also a trip to Nashville where we met up with my high school friend, Joseph… She was such a fun and beautiful person.  I am very saddened by this news.  But there is more, Shana’s 2 brothers were killed in a car accident recenly… I can only imagine her loss.  On the bright side, however, she’s engaged and will be relocating to TN very soon.  I am very happy for her but also feel for her and her loss.

Such highs and lows that the last 24 hours have been.  My heart goes out to Shana and her family.  It also goes out to Carrie’s family including her young daughter she left behind.

Almost decade has gone by since the “talker” days… and remembering the friends that I had online that also became friends offline… I have kept up a few friendship from those days.  Stephanie S., and Amy L. (now married) from the talkers.  And Heather M. from INN/TSN are all that I had kept up with.  But now, I have found 2 more.  MySpace might be a technical nightmare from time to time, but the fact that it has helped me reunite with some old friends is powerful.

This is what I looked like this morning as I am came to work… I am not big on dressing up for Halloween anymore… not since I was like 15… or maybe even younger, but it does get me out of the business casual dress code today!

My Costume: A heavy metal drummer 🙂