Ricardo Sevilla's Blog

There will be times when people you care about disappoint you, and those times can hurt. What do you do when this happens to you?  If an apology is given to you, and you feel it be sincere, do you still walk away?

In the past, I would. However, I now understand that forgiveness is a beautiful thing. I know so many people that will fight to the bitter end, to prove they are right and forget the big picture. When someone places their ego aside, in search for something bigger than themselves, that is something I inherently respect, admire, and to be honest... value. Even if someone is wrong, the simple act of putting aside what happened for the sake of a friendship/relationship is rare. It's a form of effort, and in the end, that is ALL that matters.

So I chose to forgive her.

That night, after I put my daughter to bed, I sat on my couch, finished my glass of wine, pulled out my phone, and re-read our conversation. And I felt happy. 

I was at the archery range the other day when this fascinating girl shows up for an archery lesson, and she's shooting with the Olympic Recurve. I was done training that day, so I took some time to observe and watch the lesson.

As I watch and notice the grace she shows while shooting this completely different style of archery, she reminds me of my own (and very pricey) Olympic Recurve bow that's been sitting in storage for almost two years now.  

That evening I decided to take it out along with the rest of my bows. 

I decide to start shooting my Olympic and begin the process of finding the right arrows for my bow, a process that I never finished since I got the bow. I speak with my coach and let him know that besides traditional archery, I want to practice Olympic. He was hesitant, being a traditional archer himself, he wanted me to focus on traditional shooting. "Don't worry, and I'll be doing both. The two styles are different, so I won't pick up any bad habits via cross training." He agreed and also agreed to coach me via Olympic Recurve.

There is just no way I will ever stop practicing traditional, but I like archery in general, and the Olympic Recurve scene is huge right now, with tournaments popping up left and right... I could not help but gain a fresh interest. My goal is to win a State Championship and I'll get there. 

Recently I went to Gainsville to celebrate a friend's gender reveal party. She also has a friend that wanted to go but did not want to make the trip alone, so we carpooled. After the party was over, we make our way back to Miami.

Early into the drive, we get hammered with hard rain. "This place is so freaking beautiful!" I tell her. She agrees as we keep looking at our surroundings. As I drive down a road, I look to my left and notice an incredible scene! I slow down and stop the car. "What are you doing?" she asks. "I HAVE to take a look at something back there. It'll be quick!". So I turn the car around and come across a side road entrance. It looks incredible with the rain pouring down, windshield wipers singing their song and giving us view, all the while the headlights are peering in. We sit there for a moment, and I go, "You still have your dress from the party... would you mind getting wet?! Let's take a portrait of you in the rain!" "What? No, I'm going to get wet, and my makeup is going to run, and it's cold outside and..." "And I don't care come on! Trust me! It will be a great photo! Stop overthinking and let's go, I'm going to get soaked too, and so is my camera!," I interrupt. "Ok, but just for one minute and it has to be fast!" she says. "Yeah yeah, let's go!"

After what seemed like 5 minutes, we jump back into the car with our clothes completely soaked. I start backing the vehicle up unto the main road, turn on the heater and continue our way back home. With smiles on our faces.

I use Amazon's photo depository, and the app comes with a feature called, "On This Day." Every day you will see some photos that were taken that same day, on a previous year. It's pretty neat really, and I enjoy being reminded of things. 

On this day, this photo came up and a smile formed on my face. Sometimes I wish I can go back to the days where she wore her little monster feet and held on to my ears when carrying her on my shoulders. ^_^