My name is Brian Seales.
I am a Graphic Designer living in Bellingham, WA with my wife, Shannon, and our two dogs, Moose and Sushi. I am not originally from Bellingham, WA and in fact only moved to the west coast a short 8 years ago. I was born in a small town outside of Detroit, Mi on November 24th, 1976. I am the Second child of my mother and fourth of my father.
My immediate family includes my brother Scott, my sister Elizabeth, and my half-brother David whom I have considered my full-blood brother since I was very young probably due of the fact that I have never met his mother. I also have a half sister , Debra. I know very little about Debra as I rarely have the opportunity to visit with her. I can tell you that she is married and has 3 children.
Scott is 25 years old and lives in Las Vegas, NV. He moved there recently to encourage his own independence from my parents, Detroit, and unfortunate relationships. He aspires to be a cook, or a policeman, or a musician, or a screen-printer, or…..; you get what I’m saying. The truth is, he is a talented musician and the fact that he is on his own now, free from the shelter of my parents, able to experience life through his own eyes and ears, provides confidence to me that he’ll find his calling. Hopefully he can translate these experiences through his fingertips.
Elizabeth is 33 years old and lives in Tryon, NC. She is married and owns a local pizzeria with her husband, Tyler. Because of our close age, Elizabeth (Lizard-breath) and I fought regularly as kids and subsequently passed a black-eye back and forth between each other throughout most of our adolescence. The fighting slowed to a halt once we reached high school, but we still find ourselves occasionally engaged in verbal fist-a-cuffs regarding politics. Elizabeth is a strong conservative. She is a fan of Anne Coulter and invited George W. Bush to her wedding. I am none of those things, but because I’m not very educated when it comes to the political debate scene, I find that I’m fighting from my own corner and receiving more black-eyes than I’m delivering. I haven’t visited Elizabeth at her house in Tryon. I’ve considered it, but I haven’t been granted the time to follow through. Maybe next year.
David is 44 years old, or will be.. (I can’t remember.) and lives in Kansas City, MO. Throughout most of my childhood at least until I was 7 or 8, Dave lived at our house in Armada. At the time I’m sure I didn’t know the relationship that he had with our family and simple considered him to be my brother. In my mind, I remember him being considerably rough on me. He had a very close relationship with my sister and I remember feeling a bit left out by their happiness as brother and sister. Dave and Elizabeth are still very close and we all get along very well now.
My mother, Donna suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. I suppose I don’t have to identify her in that way since she is so much more than a neurological disorder, but the fact that the disease consumes a hefty portion of our phone conversations leads me to think that she has accepted it to be her dominant feature. I do enjoy our conversations and email exchanges as I’ve only recently learned to appreciate her creativity.
My Father, Thomas is due to retire this summer. He is 68 years old and currently works as the Director of Buildings and Grounds in Plymouth-Canton, MI. Dad has always done his best to provide for our family. I remember him working 2 or 3 jobs at one time while I was very young and it would be nice to have his work ethic. That being said, his retirement concerns me. He doesn’t seem the type of person who would want to retire and I hope that he finds a hobby to keep him occupied.
I feel it’s important for you to know the person behind the blog, and I hope this brief glimpse into my immediate family history will offer you an appropriate seg-way into future blogs. It’s also a nice warm up for me. I haven’t written in a while.
Next Chapter – How I met my wife (it’s an interesting story)
