hush, now. i am listening to (you for a) reason.


in my haste to scribble down my thoughts on the events of sunday, may 25th at humc, i failed to mention what may have been the coolest news that i've received in quite some time. that news? an e-mail over the weekend from none other than my brother, brian patrick o'kelley, notifying me that he had entered this land of blog.

many of you know of brian. some more than others. others not at all. but if you know me at all, you know that in my world where potential and hope will always weigh heavier than what's happened in the past, my brother is the poster child for that world.

my and brian's life paths diverged sometime shortly after i left moody, al., moved back to huffman and into ascot place for the first of two stays. i entered a phase of self-discovery that included intentional efforts to reconnect with my father and church, amsouth and then working for the church i grew up in. brian entered a phase that could be described in many romantic and artistic ways, but for the sake of keeping it simple, we'll just say it was dark. he and i were together long enough, though, that he was my constant for quite some time. maybe he still is.

over the course of the last ten years, brian and i happened upon each other a couple of times, but the expectations that i placed on our relationship didn't match up with where he was on his own path to self-discovery and a couple times we lost significant touch. only in the last two years or so have we seriously found the want to be a part of each other's lives again and there are many reasons for that.

none of those reasons matter nearly as much as the want. i've thought about and written about him on this site since it's inception. he and his path have long been a driving force behind how i look at the world and my world today. and now, as of a few days ago, he's decided to open up for the world (wide web) to take a glance into the man he's become and he's becoming. it's terribly exciting for me, but, then again, i am biased. i would and do encourage anyone that comes across this site and is looking "to pass (your) time" to take a minute and check out what he has to say and how he has to say it.

it is a perspective that few of us are familiar with and his thoughts will root in a place that most of us will never fully grasp or understand, but that's what makes it so fascinating to me. we starve for people that have "been there and done that" when we cannot and should not go there. we starve for stories of redemption. we starve for anything that means something. and if you trust me at all, i tell you this today. where he's come from and where he is, today, means something. enjoy the ride.

and yes. brian is going to be super-pissed that i just pimped him as the second-coming.

whatareyougonnado? i am jazzed.