Monthly Archives: January 2012

I thought of a lot of wildly awesome moments from 2011 that I neglected to include amid the epic story of love and theft, career and disaster, trials and travel. I also neglected some records I wish I had included in my list of “Best of.” So this follow up post is 100% awesome, and mostly just photos and lists.

Like the photo above, where Blair sprang 20th row seats to the Braves v. Cubs game in August on me for my birthday. But it wasn’t just any Braves/Cubs game. In this game:

– Dan Uggla broke the Braves hit-streak at 32, by going 3-3 with 2 HR

– Chipper Jones, Jose Constanza and Freddie Freeman all homered

– Bobby Cox had his jersey retired

– Carlos Zambrano was tossed, from the mound, in the 5th for throwing at Chipper

Braves won 10-4. Mike Minor got the win. Continue reading →

Each year, I move farther from the events that shaped me. And still, I think I’ve made good on the promises made to myself when I left Rogersville after high school and, completely unaware, never looked back.

“You can throw me in the Colbert County jail house. You can throw me off the Wilson Dam. But there ain’t much difference in the man I wanna be and the man that I really am.” – Never Gonna Change, Drive-By Truckers

When juxtaposed with 2009 and 2010, I suppose 2011 is Return of the Jedi to ’09’s A New Hope and ’10’s Empire Strikes Back – complete with Ewoks. The trilogy of my most recent three years has been an epic journey of how to deal with circumstance and rebirth. Then, perhaps 2011 was its own trilogy, with each third of months representing its own stage of an entire life. This year has been a remarkable dichotomy of blessing and curse, and it’s final days have been an epic reflection of how far we’ve come. Continue reading →