06/06/2024
I wrote this in 2022 after a long overseas trip. I find it amazing how strong I can be at times and yet so fallible. When things are going great and life seems good I tend to let my guard down and get complacent with the things that matter most. I fall back into old behaviors and tend to look to others for my happiness and self sabotage. It starts with little things and slowly those things turn into major problems. Problems that I spent years growing, recovering and changing. And the worst part is it happens so slow that you don't recognize it until it punches you in the face. I have a lot of work to do to get back to the person I want to be but through it all I am still proud of the man I see in the mirror. I am still committed to be the human being that I smile at. Through all the pain comes growth and through the growth comes understanding and through the understanding comes the path back to the light.
FOCUS on the LIGHT
MY LIFE
As I sit here on a plane flying into another sunset, I reflect on a life that for all purposes I never really should have survived!!! That being said, I have survived. The older I get the more I realize that all the obstacles all the setbacks and all the heartbreaks haven't closed my mind and hardened me. They have actually taught me that never giving up, never quitting, never giving in to a world that constantly wants to tell you “You Can't” leads to a life that I never thought possible!!!! The life I live today is a direct result of the setbacks life has thrown at me!!!! Those people that have known me the longest know the road I've traveled. Some of them have left this life far too soon, some have left my life by choice, and a few have stayed in my life to this day. Sometimes I wonder what those who remain have seen from their vantage point and who they see standing in front of them today. Because I know what I see when I look in the mirror today!!! I see someone who I'm finally proud of. Someone who doesn't need to prove anything to anyone anymore!!! Someone who can stand on his own two feet and take care of his family. Someone who can be true to his heart. Someone who won't be told it isn't possible. And someone that won't be told that fairy tales aren't real. I have built my fairytale and I know it's real because I'm living it!!!! It's my life, my story, my legacy!!!! It's a life that proves to my boys that dreams do come true if you never stop believing!!!! It's a life that I hope somehow, some way, has inspired those around me to chase their dreams. To believe that their own fairytales are possible.
In the past ten years I have lived a charmed life!!! I have visited 50 foreign countries and damn near every state in the U.S. I have captured photographs that have exceeded my wildest dreams. I have interviewed some of the most amazing people. And ohhhh have I met and gotten to know some of the most wonderfully amazing people I could ever have dreamed to meet. This life of mine has humbled me!!! Brought me to my knees in thankfulness!!!! I don't think I could be more thankful for the blessings I have been both given and earned!!! For the people in my life that have stood by my side through it all. For the opportunities I have been given. For the friends that give me strength every day!!! For the health of my children and family. And for the love that has filled my life!!!
I don't know where this life is taking me, but I do know that I'm going to continue to write my story every second of every day!!! It's my fairytale and it's one I'm proud of!!!
Thank You for being in my Fairytale!!!!
Thaddius Bedford
“All his life he fought to free himself of fear. By this, and this alone he was made free. The freest man I’ve ever known. His tragedy was one of increasing loneliness and isolation impatience with those who could not understand. But the glory and the memory of man will always belong to the ones who follow their great visions.”
VFC Ptolemy
