Good morning, and thank you for joining me. Every one of you has good reason to be critical of me. I want to say to each of you, simply and directly, I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in. I know people want to find out how I could be so selfish and so foolish. I have let you down. For many of you, especially my friends, my behavior has been a personal disappointment. But still, I know I have bitterly disappointed all of you. For all that I have done, I am so sorry. What I did is not acceptable, and I am the only person to blame.
I stopped living by the core values that I was taught to believe in. I knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules didn't apply. I never thought about who I was hurting. Instead, I thought only about myself. I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I was wrong. I was foolish. I don't get to play by different rules. I brought this shame on myself.
I once heard, and I believe it's true, it's not what you achieve in life that matters; it's what you overcome. Character and decency are what really count. I recognize I have brought this on myself, and I know above all I am the one who needs to change. I owe it to my family to become a better person. I owe it to those closest to me to become a better man. That's where my focus will be.
I've had a lot of time to think about what I've done. It's now up to me to make amends, and that starts by never repeating the mistakes I've made. It's up to me to start living a life of integrity.
And that starts right now with this blog post and the awful omission. I neglected to post a photograph in the last blog. A photograph that so poignantly explains the reasons why Kane and I came back to North Carolina for these few months. And it sheds an intimate light on what we do on a day to day basis to make us human.
Without further adieu here it is:
This is a photo of the rest-stop we stop at sometimes on the way to Asheville on Thursdays so Kane can go pee.
