Do you remember where you were six years ago? Do you remember who you were six years ago?

We’re 4 weeks into this year… it’s been interesting so far. If 2011 was the year of rejection for me, 2012 is then the year of redemption. Redemption isn’t easy but here we are.

Rejection can breed bitterness and cynicism… Bitterness and cynicism can expose pride and jealousy. Pride and jealously can only be cured with redemption. 

I was driving home from work on Friday and I started thinking about something someone said to me a couple weeks ago. Someone said “I know you”. Normally not a crazy thing to say but after thinking about it, living in Santa Barbara has done a great job of hiding my past. Most people know something happened and then I appeared on State Street. 

When that something did happen, there were some good people there. They’re still around today. They are some of the friends that I call family. They had every reason to walk away from what was happening. It wasn’t their problems to deal with. These friends though aren’t just friends to me; they’re heroes; they’re family. 

Before the Dangerous Summer… before that year happened where everything fell apart… there is a story. There’s a boy who loves a girl who loves him back. There’s a group of friends that seem to always get away with some of the craziest adventures. There’s pizza and mountain dew. first cars and even boats too. To be completely honest… I don’t think we really knew how good we had it.

I put together this video in a couple hours this morning. Last night I found the original hard drive from my first MacBook and when I saw the data on it, it felt like I found a lost treasure. 

To those of you who remember these days in Tucson, San Diego and Santa Barbara between 2005-2008, thank you. I don’t think my life would have been the same without all of you.

To everyone else, if you’ve seen the dangerous videos you know, I fell in love with my friends. This is how it all started. 

Every story has a beginning. It’s not on accident that we were in Santa Barbara long before I ever moved here. It’s no accident we found ourselves in Tucson years before the Dangerous Summer. It’s not accident we got to do what we did in San Diego. I am incredibly grateful to have been given this life. We were Dangerous long before we knew it.