This is the first of many articles categorized appreciation. I will be writing about people who inspire me and who I truly appreciate for what they have done for me and my growth as a human being. So here we go and I do hope that yall enjoy this part of the blog.

I’ve known this guy for 8.5 years and I have seen him grow into a great man. My friend Rick has recently started playing his guitar and singing with his friend for a little over a month at a wine bar in the city. I have been to a couple of his gigs and sees his excitement and love for singing a song that someone else has sang or something he has written.

Rick also volunteers at a Big Brother organization helping a young boy get great insightful and at times funny advice from a person who has been in that situation before.

I really didn’t know how much I impact people’s lives until one day Rick sat me down and we were having a conversation about what we wanted to do with our lives and the directions we were going in. He told me that he really admire the way I was living my life because I did what I said I was going to do. Furthermore, that I didn’t let anything get in the way of my happiness. He wanted that happiness in his life also and that I helped inspire him to do the same in his life. I have seen the transformation in him and see that he is loving life a lot more and tries his best to include his closes friends and new ones how to live a productive life. Rick tried so hard to get me to read, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and I refused. He wanted to go through this journey with me of maximizing his time to do the things he truly wanted out of his life. The reasons why I didn’t want to read this book were because I read some of it a couple of years ago and lost interest in what Stephen Covey was getting across (and the book is too damn long for the type of material), however I have listened to tons of other material by Stephen Covey; didn’t want to admit to Rick that I wasn’t in an ideal place in my life with work and wanted to portray that “tough” image every chance I could; and I like people to figure out their situations on their own with me giving them encouragement and seeing them honestly map out a life that they can call their own.

Rick I want you to know that I do appreciate our friendship and I know that we will be friends for a lifetime and also I want you to continue to sing your heart out, start making delicious beer (or shitty beer in the beginning), and live your life for you and for others you care about.