Today, another Reserved Seat is filled. And this one belongs to a man whose name carries weight, whose presence has shaped the path beneath my feet.
Kevin Kent Bristow.
My father.
My sense has always been that you care about people dearly. You wear your loyalty like armor. You show up, you fix things, you protect. I admire that deeply—because I care just as fiercely as you do.
But Dad, there’s a truth I can’t ignore: your decision-making has often been ruled by “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” And so you’ve been rendered a firefighter of other people’s chaos.
I can’t allow that to keep happening.
When the emotional threats come—and they will come—I want you to show your strength. Remember this: anything that is real cannot be threatened.
I know your dreams. You always wanted to be a firefighter. You admired the courage, the calm under pressure, the heroism of standing in flames.
Now you have that opportunity. But this time, the fire is emotional. Spiritual. Psychological.
This time, you stand in the fire.
Take a deep breath. Remain calm.
Because the best way to get something done is sometimes to do absolutely nothing at all. Sit there. Let the flames crackle and roar. The fire will eventually put itself out from your silence and your presence alone.
And when you’re tempted to stamp out the flames—remember that your intervention might be fueling them instead.
So I’m challenging you: Make the hard decisions based on what you believe is best, not on how others might feel about it.
I know you’re capable of this. I’ve seen your fire before.
I remember being a child, feeling your passion, your restless energy, the drives you’d take to cool off and collect yourself. I remember the spark in your eyes. Awaken him again.
Others may throw tantrums. Others may hurl threats or guilt. But anything that is truly meant for you will never pass you by.
So I welcome you, Dad, to your Reserved Seat among the supporters of the flame. This seat is not just a place of honor—it’s a place where the fire inside you can burn bright, not burn you out.
Here’s to a new chapter. To us both. As the Superior Man:
We live with purpose.
“A man’s worth can be measured by how much truth he can tolerate.”
We seek to know our deepest mission in life and align our choices with it.
We Integrate heart and spine.
“It’s time to evolve beyond the macho jerk ideal, all spine and no heart. And it is time to evolve beyond the sensitive wimp ideal, all heart and no spine.”
We are neither a “macho jerk” who’s rigid and closed, nor a “sensitive wimp” who’s soft and aimless.
We blends strength with sensitivity.
We remain present in the face of challenge.
We can hold space for our partner’s emotions without becoming reactive.
We stands steady in chaos.
We embody sexual polarity.
We embrace our masculine essence (direction, consciousness, presence) to create sexual and relational spark with a feminine partner (flow, energy, love).
We are open to growth.
We don’t cling to comfort.
We welcomes life’s edge as the path to own expansion.
That man is inside you, Dad. And I believe in him completely.
Welcome to your Reserved Seat.
One where you stand tall in the flames, and know that your son stands beside you.
Cheers to the man who is never threatened.
Cheers to you and you only,
The Man Who Didn’t Flinch When His Son Cropped His Mom Out of the Blog Photo
The blog post was dedicated to him, the man with heart and spine. His son wrote about their mountain hike and posted a photo of just the two of them at the summit.
Later, she found it.
Before letting her feelings rise, she made sure he’d read the blog first, wanting him to win the peace, not keep it.
He nodded. “I’ve read it.”
Then came the gasp.
“Your son cropped me out of this photo!”
Once, the man would’ve felt threatened, rushing to correct his son, or fix the emotion to keep the peace.
But this time, he stayed calm.
“He wanted to honor me,”
he said softly.
“But we both know I’m only this man because of you.”
Her frustration melted into warmth.
“You’re the reason we reached the summit at all.”
In that moment, she felt his presence, steady, loving, unshaken in the fire.
Because didn’t try to fix her emotions, he guided them back to love through presence.
He was the man who didn’t flinch when the world tried to crop her out.
He won the peace from that day and everyday forward.
No matter the size of the flames.