When I first told my ex-wife that I loved her, I promised her something simple.
That I would work hard to love her more today than I did yesterday. I stole the idea from the Spiral Starecase song, but I meant every word, and for most of that marriage, I lived up to it.
Then life shifted.
My energy turned more towards fatherhood. I put everything I had into being a good dad, trying to be better today than I was yesterday. That is still true today and it always will be.
Now, as the working years have started to wind down, I have found myself doubling down again. I am working harder today than I did yesterday. I am writing more consciously, more intentionally, leaving pieces of myself behind in chalk. I am loving God more today than I did yesterday, this country I call home, and the gift of my life, even when it has not been easy.
More than yesterday…
This is how I am going to finish this somabitch: by working harder, loving harder, praying harder, and trying, in my own small way, to bring us all together.
I want to promote my faith, my family, and my friends... louder today than I did yesterday. I want tomorrow to be more astonishing than today. If I can get the world around me to see that, to feel that, then maybe my legacy will lean more toward the positive than the negative.
It is supposed to rain today. Maybe, if we are lucky, a little August rain has lingered. Just enough for one more smell, one more reminder that even the smallest things carry meaning.
Because at the end of the day, the goal hasn’t changed.
Be better than yesterday.
And tomorrow?
Better still.
