Chase Happy !

2020 has been flying by! It has been one of those years that books will probably be written about, movies will most be based off of. Work life, school life, party life, church life all realms may have changed forever? (We damn sure don’t have the answers) but - Our lessons have been grind hard-/harder, stand up for people taller; and educate more fools. Chase happiness always; Love ouA year tt loud more often, because no one is here forever. 10/10/2020 Will be a great day because I will marry my partner Kathleen Byrne I am excited to keep chasing lit shit with her til one of us is gone.

I remember the moment that Michael walked through the door. We planned to meet at a bar in SE Portland with each of our respective best friends from college. Mike was backlit by the entrance stair lights and he smiled. In the last few weeks this moment has come into my head. I did not know that in that moment I was meeting someone who would change my life. Michael has changed the way that I think about my entire existence. He has altered the way that I think about my family, my friends, my career, my goals and my priorities. From the moment that I met him in that bar, he has been present, kind, generous, and supportive. I have been able to share my deepest insecurities and grandest dreams with him and he has met me in the valleys and on top of the mountains. If you know Michael personally, you know that he is a person who seeks knowledge and happiness in order to be the best son, brother, uncle, friend and partner possible. Michael rises to challenges. This is why I am committing myself to be Michael’s wife: Marriage is a challenge and he is going to fight by my side for as long as we live. When we decided to get married, we wanted to write these letters to you all that cannot join us for our marriage ceremony. We wanted to share our thoughts with everyone that has loved us. We will celebrate reunions and marriages and births and graduations when we can. We will celebrate this union with each and every one of you when our paths cross again. Thank you for loving us from the start, we would not be who we are without you.

I am writing this letter to you some five years since I moved to Oregon to begin my next life chapter. I moved to Oregon those five years ago chasing happy. I hoped to build a strong community of hard-working people around me, find personal financial growth, work-life balance, and a partner to continue my growth as an adult with. I have found way more than I expected to find here. I found my love for plants, gardening and watching things grow. I also found my partner Kathleen who has been a great influence on the goals I already held for myself as a black man and leader. Kathleen has accepted my desire to chase more with her endless potential and has challenged me in those same ways during successes and failures of my own. Our growth together has continued to build a united confidence in our plans for the future together as partners in life. Growing up, I had a large family, large friend group and so many peers and loved ones who have helped me become the person I am today. I am proud to have found an amazing partner who is more than worthy of joining my tribe of loved ones. Someone I will fight for, stand up for, protect and challenge to become better daily. Someone who will fight for family, protect family, challenge family to chase happy. When I met Kathleen, she reignited my spark to love art again like I use to. She encouraged my passion to create an epic garden while fighting through an epically broken finger from a stupid moment of frustration. While I was building an early friendship and partnership with Kathleen, she always told me that I was the first person who inspired her to do more in her career and the arts to be happy in life. Without realizing it, we had sparked each other to want more from ourselves, to do more to chase happiness and healthiness and to spend more time doing things that make us happy. We became better versions of ourselves, together. On October 10th Kathleen & I will be getting married and begin a new journey.