Saturday, April 7, 2012

Happy Birthday Kevin James Brasil Caetano




"I think about how much I miss him, and start to feel sorry for myself.....but then I think about all the people who never got the chance to meet him, and I start to feel sorry for them."

I don’t know who wrote this quote, but I do know the meaning that it conveys. This time of the year always seems colder to me, always feels empty. I drag my feet around, my shoulders slumped, my eyes always watery, and I wish I could just see your face, and hear your voice one more time. I wish I could just stand next to you on stage, and hear you scream that you Love our band one more time. That I could just pick up the phone to call you and hang out.

My heart is heavy, and we all know why, we feel that familiar burn when we cry.

The days will always be brighter
Because you existed
The nights always darker
Because you’re gone

Time only heals the wounds we allow it to heal. Some sorrows only fade when our hearts stop beating. This sorrow that is illuminated on days like today, will only heal the day I depart from this world, and enter the heavenly gates.

The pain doesn’t get easier it doesn’t go away. Perhaps we only get used to it, perhaps the pain is so numbing that we simply must adapt to a life that is a little bitter. Our heart is still broken, and although sometimes it feels like we have better days, the truth is our heart will never fit together the way it did before.

Kevin James Brasil Caetano would be 28 years young today. I have no doubt in my mind that we would have celebrated together. All of us, sharing laughter, creating new memories, and reminiscing over old ones.

Today as a family, not just blood, but also the many friends we all hold near and dear as family, will celebrate in your honor. We will laugh, tell stories, and quietly and collectively shed a few tears. We will never forget the impact your 22 years of life, left on our world. Six years later, I still miss you more than a million words on a million pages could describe. I still look at the picture on my wall, and remember you every single morning.

Rest in Peace Brother! Have a Happy Happy Birthday up there in heaven surrounded by your grandparents, Tia Luzia, Tio Trajano, my Avó velhinha, Jeffrey, and all the other people this world has lost.

Ill end this blog with an Eskimo Proverb that I believe rings very true.

“Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.”

Ill be looking up to the stars tonight Kevin, hoping they shine brighter than ever!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

The Key to Life

When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy.’ They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.
~ John Lennon

A friend of mine shared this quote with me, and it has been bouncing around in my head ever since.

John Lennon had a way of delivering messages about life and the world that resonated well with people. When he spoke, his passion, and belief in what he was saying, pierced through the hardest of shells and straight into the heart. He was an idealistic human being, who refused to live in reality. I can not fault him for that, look around, reality is a shitty place to live in.

This quote, is golden!

The key to life truly is happiness. So many of us worry endlessly about being normal, or having great careers, or being filthy rich. But ultimately the only true possession we need is to just be happy.

Life is far too short to worry endlessly about insignificant things. Money, by the way, is a very insignificant thing to worry about. Sure, we need money to survive, we need it to buy food, and clothes, and shelter. But being rich, doesn't equal having a great life. If you're a miserable person, all the money in the world will not make you happy. Will not cure your misery. Will not bring you up from the trenches.

We have to be content with the things we do have. We have to appreciate them. I'm not saying don't have aspirations and dreams. Because those are vital tools to life as well. I'm saying while having those big aspirations, and monster dreams, take time to also appreciate everything you do have.

Look around. There are lots of people who have nothing, and are happy as clams.

The same friend who told me about this quote also told me a story about her visit to Cuba.

She said, As poor as those people are in Cuba, and trust me they are dirt poor, and have nothing. They still danced in the streets, and were happy.

You don't see that here in America. You don't see people delighted to just be able to take a breath every morning. You don't see people truly appreciate the precious thing we call life.

Instead they complain about having to wake up early, complain about their jobs, complain about not having ENOUGH money. Complain about traffic, and the weather.

Never once do you hear them say, I'm alive, I have my family, my friends, my health.

Let's be HAPPY America. Let's be grateful for what we DO have, and aspire and dream for the things we don't. Instead of embellishing our feeling of entitlement.We are not entitled to anything in this life. Our next breath could be our last.

SO, LET'S JUST BE HAPPY!