Endure

Your life is a gift; its glory and failure belong only to you. Don't let it be controlled by anyone else. 

Nothing can change the already-spilled ink on the pages of your past. Take time to breathe and accept all that has been.

Be wary of gossiping crows. Every word you speak in confidence will end up in the ear of someone else.

Don't become average and lead a mediocre plastic existence.

To escape the clutches of ordinary you must develop a strength not forged from doing push-ups or lifting heavy rocks. It is a mental
toughness, discovered only after enduring tears, failure, and time spent alone questioning over and over, "Should I give up?"

There is much to do and significantly less time than you think; your first opportunity will show up the very second you start to believe.

Endure, mother fucker, endure, there is no other way.

She put "J's" on my feet. ( Lessons learned from being raised by a single mom )

"Not everything is gonna be the way you think it ought to be", sings Sheryl Crow as I sit, scratching out words in black ink that try to capture the emotion.

I’ve waxed poetic about my grandfather and how I believe that I get this from him, but looking back now, I can remember my mom’s bedside table stacked with journals littered with words that she had written.  

So then I guess I got this from her, and she from him.

She raised us on her own, put food on the table, and "J's" on my feet.

She's loved me unconditionally through my most reckless of days.

I'm an observant little bastard; trust me, I notice everything, though I pretend not to at times.

It was through watching her that I learned the most.

There are a lot of lessons to be taught along the hard-knock road to becoming a man. Ironically, I learned them all from a woman.

Watching her life through my eyes, my world took shape, installing the fundamentals of who I became today.

Never get too high. Never get too low. Don't celebrate. Don't hold pity parties. Don't make things to be more important than they are. Nothing in life defines you - you define yourself.

And above all, I learned this:

Life unfolds in the most uniquely beautiful way. Its irony and fate provide a story much greater than one you could create.

Don't miss the beauty of your story unfolding by focusing on the commercials inside your head.

Know what you want, believe that you're worth it, and then let go of how it has to come.

Live your life, be present, authentic, and always follow your heart because life's greatest gifts are the ones you don't see coming, or in her case, the two!

- Jeff Moore

A Poem for you.

I have this little poem that I spent all night going over.

Its words don’t always rhyme and I’m sure, as you may have already guessed, it contains an obscenity or two.

Boy meets Girl. That’s how it starts and stays for quite some time.

Boy thinks Girl is pretty.

Girl doesn’t care because Boy isn’t her type.

Boy writes like a motherfucker and Girl discovers there is more to Boy than what she first thought, which leads to them falling for one another!

There have already been so many moments in between the moments I will never forget, my favourite being when your curiosity got the better of you.

We used to stay up late getting lost in wine-soaked words. Now our conversations happen over coffee and the morning news.

I couldn’t tell why you chose me, and honestly, I think that’s best. My head is already so big; add one more thing and I might just fall over.

It wasn’t your beauty that made me fall – don’t get me wrong, I think you’re fucking beautiful. Honestly, on a scale of one to ten, I’d give you a 52.

It was the way your eyes told me everything when you couldn’t find the right words to say, and your pretty little laugh that hugs my heart that made you impossible to be without.

 Our journey won’t always be easy. Lord knows any road travelled with me is bound to have a few potholes along the way. And happily ever after are just words that some people say. Here though, my dearest _______, is my promise to you: I will love you forever plus one day, you’re my favourite, and this poem is just for you.

Jeff Moore