Falling Upward: Steve's 50th

Dear Friend,

Welcome to my website chronicling my 50th Birthday Party, which I've title "Falling Upward - Journey Beyond 50"! This is the first party I've ever thrown for my birthday. Prior to my 50th, few people knew my birthday. I pretty much wanted to deny it. But for my 50th, not only did I want to celebrate, but I wanted to share my story and be able to share it with friends.

At the party, I gave a few reasons why I wanted to throw this party.

1. To express thankfulness for what you've given me through your friendship
2. To say goodbye to my "1st half of life" years, to close the books on the first half, and to set my trajectory towards the next "50" to come. I wanted a ritual, a commemoration, knowing this would have a great effect for my soul and for any witnesses.
3. To tell my story. Those words assume there's value to my story, something I've denied for decades. Part of that story includes how hardship and trials have served to surface my humanity and passions. Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, but especially Richard Rohr have helped me to understand the trajectory of the "Heroes Journey" through the greatest stories of old, and through the greatest leaders of our modern age. "Falling Upward" is the way Richard Rohr describes this journey.
4. Therefore, I wanted to express this story through art, music, and video, for this was an expression of my soul, my lifeblood given me, but a part of me that I've suppressed for years.
5. Because EVERYONE has a story...not just me. I was joyed that many guests expressed how the party inspired them in their own story.

Cheers to YOU! What good is the telling of a story without anyone to engage with it? And, to the One who breathed life, passion, creativity, and stories into me.

-- Steve