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The year was 2004 and it was springtime. On my birthday, a friend of mine named Sonia gave me something that was very simple but yet to me was a huge blessing.  It was my very own first leather bound journal. It was beautiful and looked like it was taken out of a time capsule. It was really cool because at the time I had been writing a lot of songs and lyric ideas. I love to rhyme and jot down lines and thoughts that come to me, but when she gave me this blank journal I knew immediately what its purpose was for. I unraveled the leather string, flipped open the flaps, and strummed my thumb through the pages. All blank except for one quote. She wrote “To be or not to be that is the question.” -William Shakespeare.

I don’t know how much it cost her to buy me that but I’m so thankful because I was immediately inspired to begin writing what would become my first book.  So Sonia wherever you are and whatever you’re doing thank you, sometimes the simple things make a big difference.

… So is that it? Is that where the story ends? Or where the journey begins? It seems like a long time ago now. I had no idea what the future would hold, what monsters I would encounter, what demons I would stare down, or what lessons would resound. It felt like I’d come so far at the time, and just only getting started. But at least I had a way to pour out my thoughts and express the things I had learned.

At the time I was too right-brained to force myself into adopting any sort of structure. Even now, it feels weird calling it a book when it was mostly my artistic journal for much of the time. But still, it’s more than just a journal, especially when the information is enough to help someone like the way it helped me. So that wasn’t the end. It really was still the beginning. I did finally finish the book and complete the project. That’s why I’m blogging here now. I would like to share that by letting go of a little bit at a time. It’s easy to get nervous about making that commitment, but I feel like it’s something that I have to do. I’m forcing myself to be more transparent, and allow others to see what I’ve been shown. What God can do, and what you can do yourself when you “LET GO”

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