A New Day

Hi!
My name is Mark Monroe. I have just recently given up my teenage years to become a young adult. I really wanted to start a blog in order to document my life and how it is impacted via a new relationship or a new set of paint brushes. I guess the first blog should be to let you in on who I am as a person, a concrete being. To begin, this year has been the most dramatic and difficult year in my entire life thus far. On January 1, 2007, I decided to tell my parents about myself, I wanted them to understand who I was and who I was hiding from my everyday life. With that great stress and weight lifted off my shoulders, came happiness. However, that happiness was short lived after I received horrifying news during one of my favorite classes at school, competitive speech. I recieved a text message from one of my best friends, Alex Carpenter, that my other best friend who I considered to be my wife, died. Shelby Armstrong was one of my best friends, a young, beautiful girl of sixteen. She passed out from using air duster in her bath tub and drowned. She has taught me more about life, with her 16 years, than I will ever be able to experience. Her compassionate love for friends and animals will never be forgotten. She made me realize that I am a man with a sensitive heart and a creative mind that is driven by perfection. I am forever thankful that I had the ability to call her my best friend. I guess if you have taken the time to read this, you are genuine and real; therefore, I will further my mini-biography. I love art. I only recently discovered how vast that love holds true. My junior year I decided to take an art class at the high school which made me completely terrified; I was afraid of failure. Its funny how soon I realized that no one can fail art, only just fall miserably short to everyone else's presumption of it. My creative mind, which is driven by the lack of sleep and thoughts of the world, has not be fully unleashed. Be warned.

I assume that my love for art only directly relates to music because of its ability to have no boundaries. My family is musically gifted in every way thanks mainly to my Dad. My father is an amazing guitarist. He has graciously passed down these genes, more so to my brothers than I. Michael, the oldest of my brothers at the age of 24, is brilliantly skilled with the guitar and a wonderful musician. His talent grows each day, much like my knowledge develops through maturity. Matthew, my second oldest brother at the age of 20, is also blessed musically but mainly with his ability to compose words to create beautiful lyrics/poems/stories. My youngest brother, Miles who is 16, also has musical talent, but at times disregards it because of his modesty. All of my siblings have one thing in common: love for music. Each member of the family has their own style, but everyone understands the complexity of each artists' approach towards the creation. I personally love music so much. It is another way of expressing feeling and personality. I usually do not like the mainstream stuff because I like to hear how other musicians create music with different angles and new ways.
One thing that is not easily overlooked about my family is our athleticism and height. All of my brothers play basketball and are tall. (Michael - 6'7'', Matthew - 6'6'', Miles - 6'8') I, on the other hand, play soccer and am only 6'1''. At my high school, every knew the Monroe family because our dominance in sports. I love soccer. For a while, that is all I did. Constantly practicing in my backyard, striving to be perfect. In some ways, soccer is very therapeutic and helps me deal with emotions that otherwise are trapped inside.

Academics play a huge role in my life. I love to learn, especially in the subjects related to math and history. I am currently in Calculus and enjoy it. I guess I have always enjoyed math. My mind thinks mathematically. I also highly enjoy learning about the past, mainly concerning world history or European history because I believe it is extremely important to know other people's cultures and lifestyles in order to ensure equanimity among the human race. My goal is to one day use these skills for the better. I really hope to go to college somewhere out of Arkansas like New York, Chicago, or L.A. I really would also like to travel and live in different places around the world. This desire parallels my ambition to eagerly learn many languages. I can say "I love you" in Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, French, German, and of course English. After typing that, I noticed that really is of no importance, but only reiterates my love for cultures and people.

The people who I spend the majority of my time with, my best friends, are the greatest and I wouldn't change them for all the money in the world. Ben has been my best friend since I can hardly remember. We have been through so many spin-off groups while continuing to maintain our close friendship. His dry since of humor and at times modest personalty foils my own personality. His family is my family and vise versa. Alex is also one of my closest friends. She has been there since my middle school days, and I love her outgoing, carefree personality. She was the on that introduced me to my wife, and I am so thankful for that. Shelby is also my best friend, despite her early passing. She continues to talk to me in ways that only I and her close friends can understand. She was way beyond cool. I am so lucky to have such great friends, friends that will be there for me in times of hardship in growth. We have shared tears, laughs, and silence. I love them.

Everything in my life flows pretty smooth. Except for the noun that most people dread, love. Love has been a roller coaster for me and my creative, artistic, ever scattering mind. I always end up torturing myself with things that can not be true or have. I feel now, I can understand relationships and what they mean, but I can not understand the pain created from such beauty. Other than that small detail, life is pretty great.
I love my family, friends, and music.

Love,
An Artful Affair