Pros & Cons: October 2024

At the end of each month, I publish a post reviewing the highs & lows of the month

These posts are for the paying subscribers of The Son Do Move, as their generous support helps make a lot of my creative endeavors possible. However, I’m not ignorant as it pertains to the economic situations many of us are facing. I don’t want money to be the barrier to community. If you’d like to participate in these posts or take advantage of all of the other benefits of a full subscription to The Son Do Move (like accessing the full archive of posts), but a paid subscription isn’t for you right now: send a message to teamtrey05@gmail.com and we can get you plugged in.

Today is Halloween. Halloween is always a weird day in some Christian spaces, because there are certain Christianties that have committed to presenting Halloween as some sorta inextricably dark/demonic day.

Fun fact: Halloween is technically the most Christian holiday that is widely acknowledged/observed outside of overtly Christian spaces. Whereas days like Easter & Christmas brought Christian celebrations to festivals that were originally not at all Christian, Halloween actually means “all hallows eve,” which leads into a day of celebration of all of the saints. Some people argue that that day itself coopted another pagan festival, but my point is QUIT BEIN SCARED!

Anyway, October is over. Time for pros & cons!

Pros:

1. Pretty much all of my pros this month will be centered around pretty pictures I took this month.

   

   

   I spent a few days in Provo, UT and grabbed some really dope photos while I was there. They make me happy.

2. My wife and I got to travel with no kids.

   

   That basically never happens. We travel with the kids a bunch to visit family and do track stuff. But the two of us just getting away? It was so exciting! It was almost hard to figure out what to do without having to plan for other people’s bathroom breaks and double-check their bags and all that stuff. We just… went around holdin’ hands and stuff.
   
   Only eight more years ‘til we’re empty nesters!

3. And I got to see my bros, too.

   

   Three Black Men hosts Robert Monson, Sam Gay, and me!

   Some of you may know that I cohost a podcast called Three Black Men: Theology Culture and the World around Us with my brothers

   Robert the contemplative
   & Sam. In fact, that may be how many of y’all found me. This Substack probably doesn’t come into existence without them. I doubt Theologizin’ Bigger happens without that podcast either.
   
   What some people may not know is that all three of us have only ever been in the same location at the same time twice before. Until this month! Now it’s three times! And it does my soul well every time. 🥰
   
   We recorded an episode in person, too!