Spiritual State

Quite a bit has happened this summer. I got to spend my 25th birthday with wonderful friends, food, and drinks. First up was a free grand slam at Denny’s, as I age with bacon like the great Walter White.






Immediately after Denny’s we ventured off to Easy Tiger for beers with more friends.


After the work week, we had a small get together at my apartment to finish off the birthday week. I think I will start doing these more often.



On June 9th, Gloria and I celebrated 2 years of dating. I was considering flying us to Seattle or the great Portland(ia), but we needed to stay for her sister’s high school graduation. Congratualations, Abby! We are all proud of you!

Prior to this, Gloria and I went on a mini-cruise in Austin. It was quite a bit of fun, but extremely hot!

Since my vacation days were limited, we took the simple drive from Dallas to Shreveport. The Hilton Hotel there was only $175 for 3 nights, so it worked out quite nicely. There were several restaurants (with $1 margaritas!), and places to shop as well as gamble.

I got to spend 4th of July with Gloria, Mike, and Donah. We swam at the pool, went do dinner, and watched fireworks on the roof of my apartment.


Gloria and I found time to make it to Houston for Badgal’s (Kelly’s) birthday. To my knowledge, she hasn’t been a huge fan of sweets, but I hope she appreciated the gesture!

With Gloria, Tatiana, Jasmine, and Kristen, I got to experience stand up paddle boating, the graffiti park in Austin, and Mt. Bonnell again. With Tatiana going back to Prague, and Gloria moving back to Irving, it was a wonderful experience with them all.




I went home the last weekend of July, both to see Matt who was back from the army, and to celebrate my mom’s 52nd birthday. I hope to even look half this good when I’m her age. We took her to Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Dallas. She really enjoyed the dinner with the full family.

Everything was going great this summer, until I got the call when I was going into work the following Monday morning that Matt had died. I almost immediately broke into tears, and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I had just had lunch and played video games with him before taking my mom out to her birthday dinner. I immediately drove back to Richardson to be with friends and family. I never thought I would experience a loss like this so early in my life. It just didn’t feel real. There were so many questions to why, and they still remain. All of the love and support from everyone definitely helped me, and hopefully help Matt’s family somewhat.
You helped me to overcome my shyness and make some friends, best friends at that. You, me, Amber, and Kim along with many others go back at least 20 years.

You participated in the junior high lameness, and kept us all from feeling so lame looking back on ourselves.


You helped keep me grounded through the high school years, even when my health hit rock bottom when I was diagnosed with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. As I starved away from 159 to 124 pounds and the damage to my myelin sheath grew, I lost the ability to walk, to speak, to use my left arm, and to eat. I did not want anyone to see me this way, but both you and Danielle Lyles insisted on visiting me no matter what.


By some miracle, my body accepted the experimental procedure the doctors tried, and I made a full recovery. As much as you worked out, I didn’t want to fall behind. Thanks for helping to get me to an even better condition than before I got sick.

I got to experience my first cruise with you.

Most of all, we got to enjoy all of the simple good dinners, drinks, and random stories with you.

I could go on for a really long time, because there are over 20 years of good memories. Thanks for the DECADES of good memories. You will be greatly missed by all of us. R.I.P., Matthew Aaron Floyd. My brother told me this: “Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.”

Thanks again Andrea for the artwork.