Journal entry by Stephanie Hughes —
It's been a long time since an update. Our year mark for Jonathan's stroke has come and gone. Life is crazy for everyone still right now. I know that. In the midst of all of it we continue to look for the good.
Last month Jonathan had the pleasure of officiating the wedding of one of his dearest friends and coworkers at Pinky's. It was something he had committed to before the stroke nearly took his life and he was determined to make good on his promise. It was an absolutely beautiful day and I was so proud.
Last Sunday night we officially released the BitterHearts record that we were in the midst of recording last August. One of Jonathan's biggest motivations in recovery was to release the album. He was able to sit and mix the record some while we were staying with my mom, but once we moved into our home he was able to work and focus to get everything finalized and off to mastering by our friend Scotty. I would like to say that playing multiple guitar tracks and engineering the whole thing pre-stroke was a big accomplishment, but even more so was Jonathan just being able to sit at a computer, focus, and mix an entire record, when just a year before he couldn't even sit up. On behalf of Jonathan, Kyle, and Lee, I want to encourage you to give it a listen. Stream it on Bandcamp (or Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify). It's a little bit of positivity and hope that we think is extremely timely.
As we enter into this season of Thanksgiving we are so, so grateful for these victories, and thankful in the midst of the chaos.
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