Life & Times of the Semi-Domesticated Irish Bear

For my friends beginning a new path........... All things end, it’s the very nature of our understanding of existence. There's a trick to the graceful exit. It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, a relationship is over- and to let go. It means leaving what's over without denying its validity or its past importance in our lives.  It involves a sense of future; a belief that every exit line is an entry, that we are moving on, rather than out. You realize that it is time to stop hoping and waiting for something or someone to change, or for happiness, safety and security to come galloping over the next horizon. You come to terms with the fact that there aren't always fairytale endings and that any guarantee or "happily ever after" must begin with you. Sometimes….ya gotta be your own cavalry. So, you begin to make your way through the "reality of today" rather than holding out for the "promise of tomorrow", Let go of the

It has been a tumultuous time for me over the past 3 years now. I have seen joy, pain, death, birth, growth, beginnings, and endings.      As many of you know it has been a serious road of ups and downs. Choices I never thought I would make, sacrifices I never considered. It’s neither the time nor the place to go into a full accounting of my sins or the actions of others. It simply has no purpose. All one can control in this world is themselves. I have been through hell and back again over the last three years, with work, family, love, life, education, and myself. Granted a great deal of this is self-inflicted to a point, ‘The choices we make, dictate the life we lead. To thine own self be true’.  I have found just how fragile we can be, and how sometimes even the strongest of us can be manipulated into wiping out that which makes us who we really are. I believed that I needed to do these things out of penance for my crimes. To atone for what I had done wrong. While there may be some

Throughout our life people come and people go. Some are hard to remember, some you can never forget. When we make a person a part of our lives we give them a piece of ourselves and often the give one of them to us. Children, friends, parents, siblings, lovers, girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands and wives. All leave their mark upon us. Some good, some bad. But each and every interaction has a role in shaping who we are and how we view the world. When these people leave our lives they leave behind that part of them with us, or a hole in us where they used to be. Sometimes we heal, and other times we cannot.  This does not mean that we should all become isolationists, but rather cherish the good in our lives for as long as we have it. Because life is fleeting, finite, and all too often filled with darkness and pain. Grab onto what makes you happy, fight for what’s important, and above all remember the odds of success should never…NEVER dissuade a man….a person of honor from fighting for

“If only one party in the relationship is working to create love, to create the space of emotional connection, the dominator model remains in place and the relationship just becomes a site for continuous power struggle.” ― Bell Hooks “I know that it's easier to look at death than it is to look at pain, because while death is irrevocable, and the grief will lessen in time, pain is too often merely relentless and irreversible.” ― Robert Goolrick “There'a a phrase, "the elephant in the living room", which purports to describe what it's like to live with an abuser. People outside such relationships will sometimes ask, "How could you let such a business go on for so many years? Didn't you see the elephant in the living room?" And it's so hard for anyone living in a more normal situation to understand the answer that comes closest to the truth; "I'm sorry, but it was there when I moved in. I didn't know it was an elephant; I thought

For those seeking an answer to the question. Was I as bad as my ex, Tammy J. Tallant says? the answer is yes. i did cheat, I did lie, I asked other TO lie. I betrayed the trust given to me, and hurt someone who did not deserve to be hurt. Its a long drawn out sad story of what was, what could've been and what is. I will not get into the nitty-gritty details of her sins because I cannot control what or who she did at any point and time. The only thing I can do is answer for my own sins. Accept the lessons learned from them, and move forward on my path to be a better man.      There is no justification, rationalization, or excuse for the things I have done. Granted in guy fashion I very much tried to find them. I very much wanted to believe there was a reason for the wrongs I had done. There was one. I made a choice. I made a conscious choice to betray my word to a woman I said I loved & was devoted to. They are always the standard 'guy' things...fear, ego, selfishness.