It have been working for a lot of years now. It is hard to believe that I got my first job 25 years ago. Was 1994 really that long ago? Man, it doesn’t seem like it. It seems like it was just yesterday and I was showing up to Taco Bell for the first time…to work there and not eat.

Do you remember your first job? When I was 16 I was a bit naive…granted we all were at that age. In being naive, I thought that the managers of the store would have their stuff together. I thought that Taco Bell would be a well run machine. After all, I liked the food, so what would be so hard about working there. Yeah, the shine wore off real fast.

I didn’t realize back in the day that when you go to work for a place, there is a fine line you walk between knowing what the end product is and really knowing how it is made. To this day I will not eat the bean burritos there. Or the tacos. Or…eat there at all. Part of it is because fast food really isn’t good for me. The other part? I know how the food was made back then…can anyone say boiled in a bag?

It was also the first time that I remember being stuck in a place that I couldn’t leave for a predetermined amount of time, doing things that I did not consider fun. I can look back now and see the lessons I was learning much clearer than I saw them then for sure. I don’t remember the manager’s name, but I do remember her as an abrasive, do it because I told you to type. These days I deal with people like that often and I know how to handle the interactions. Back then, I had no idea what to do.

I can also look back and see the obvious business lessons I was learning. I remember having to weigh the ingredients that went into the food. I don’t remember the manager ever telling me it was to control food cost and overall spend. I wouldn’t have understood those terms then anyway, but I sure do now. I also remember having a crash course in customer service. It was really hard then to be really nice to some people that would come to the counter. Let’s face it, Taco Bell on the late shift is a magnet for strangeness.

I am glad I had that job though. It only paid me 4.75 per hour, but it gave me a lot of pride in making my own money. I took pride in how I treated people. I tried to do my very best. These are things that I work tirelessly on now. Everything I learned back then is still very applicable today.

I am glad to have moved beyond making retried beans in a bag and burritos, but I do appreciate the memories and lessons it gave me. It was far from perfect, but it was a good first job.

He stood at the corner. The sign he held in his hands spoke volumes. Times were tough and money hard to come by. He hadn’t bathed in a week. Lord only knows where he had slept the evening before, if he had slept at all. Didn’t he have a home he could go to? What brought him to this corner? Where did he get the marker and the cardboard for his sign?

His tired shoulders slumped as the cars passed him by. The hunger pains racked his body, but not as bad as the despair did. Times had not always been like these. There had been another day, years before. Before the women. Before the booze. Before the needles. Before despair.

He lifted his face. The streetlight changed to red once again. Slowly he panned the cars for generosity. A window rolled down and he walked to the person seated in the car. Two dollars. That was better than most people did. He muttered a thank you as the car drove away.

The streets were wet from the rain of the day. His clothes were sticking to his body, but at least it was cooler than the normal heat of an August day. How had he sunk this far?

He had been comfortable once. He had lived in luxury. His father had a strict set of rules that he chose not to abide by though, and in anger, one day, he demanded his share of the inheritance and left. Never to look back. Never to be constricted by those rules again.

The thoughts of years passed flashed through his mind often as he watched the cars go by. Arrogant people passed by every minute. But he knew well that very few had been as arrogant as he. Thousands of dollars he had, all of it he squandered. In a short amount of time he had nothing.

Too ashamed to go home, he stayed where he was and tried to work to make his way. Habits die hard. Expensive habits die painfully. His life was now broken and, he thought, wasted.

There had to be a better life than this. The life of one of the workers in his father’s employ was so much better than what he was now doing. Even if he couldn’t return as a son, he would ask his father for a job. It had to be better than his life now.

So, he picked up his backpack containing everything he owned in the world. It was many miles back to his father’s house, but the journey was underway. It would take several days to make it back, but it had to be better. It just had to.

His legs were tired. His feet sore. He climbed the hill in front of him. His father’s house was down on the other side. It wasn’t much further. As he reached the top of the hill he paused for a moment to catch his breath. He looked down on the valley where he grew up. It was familiar, but he knew it would never be as it was. Never again would he take it all for granted, even though none of it was his.

He started walking down the hill. To his amazement, he saw a man running toward him. The man was older and well dressed. Why was he running? Who was this? It was…his father. His father was running to him. Immediately he felt fear, but that was soon gone as he realized his father was smiling…and crying.

With a swift embrace, the father took the son in his arms and pulled him close. The son’s clothes did not stop him. The smell of the man did not stop the father. The father’s son was home and he rejoiced and cried as he held him.

“Father, please forgive me for my stupidity. I have come back to ask you for a job. I don’t deserve to be your son, but I will gladly spend my life working for you to repay the cost I have been to you.”

“Son, I have waited for you. Every day since you have been gone I have searched this road for you. I believed in my heart you would return. Now you have. You are my son and you will always be my son. I love you. Nothing has ever changed that. You may work with me as we live our lives as family. Come, we must celebrate for you have come home.”

There are just some things that you never expect. I knew having a son was going to be cool, but I had no idea just how amazing it would really be. Yes. I am biased as any other partner, but even in the bias I am still loving every minute of this. I’d like to share a few things with you that makes being a daddy so good

My boy has the ability to make me laugh like no one else. If I have had a hard day I have to look no further than my favorite mini me. If I need to smile, he’s my guy. From corney jokes to character voices, he loves making me smile and he does it quite often.

He takes care of his mama. This one is an important one to me as I am crazy about my bride. He knows that mama is the queen of the house and he is so good to her. He is courteous and kind. How is thoughtful. He is an amazing helper. He goes out of his way to take care of his mama.

He is truly helpful. We spent this last weekend at my parents house helping them with projects. I had an assignment. Marixa had a list of stuff to do as well. What did he do? He found out what his grandpa needed and he got to work too. He has told us more than once that he likes to work and wants to do a good job. My heart swells with pride.

He is competitive. Whether it is board games or video games or a good game of corn hole, this boy likes to compete. He generally backs up his smack talk as well. We do have to put him in his place every so often, but I love watching him compete.

I could go on and on. Being this boys daddy is one of the greatest joys of my life. I am so thankful for him and I love him so much.

If you have one of your own, take a few minutes to remind them you love them today. They need to hear it.

I absolutely love coming home. Whether it is from a hard day at work, or wherever else I have been it is a wonderful feeling. There is a magic about this place that is so amazing to me. I blame it all on Marixa. She is the mastermind behind the cozy.

When we first got married I quickly learned that she was about to up my game. What do I mean? I quickly began to desire a beautiful and comfortable place. I want to do my part to ensure it stays cozy. She purposefully builds that atmosphere. I absolutely love it.

For example, we have already decorated for Christmas. We have a Christmas tree in our room. Many nights I will sit with the bedroom lights off and just the lights of the tree shining. The atmosphere is amazing and peaceful. It is just as she designed it.

I also realized that home was no longer just a place. Home is wherever she is with me. I get so much comfort and peace from her just being by my side. She can wrap her arms around me and the rest of the world melts away. It is so good.

There is so much to be said for the effect your atmosphere has on you. I didn’t know it years ago, but I can sure see the evidence now. This place soothes me.

I am so thankful for you Marixa! Thank you for making and being the home I have always dreamed of. I appreciate you so much!

I’m out for a walk right now. It’s a little strange to be writing a blog post while I walk, but the topic of the evening is about fitness so it seems to make sense.This activity is not something that has come natural to me over the years. I have struggled on more than one occasion to find a routine that works for me.

Things changed this past May though. I finally had one of those moments where enough was enough. Have you ever had one of those? I’m a little bit embarrassed that it took me as long as it did to get to that point, and that it took several health scares to push me over the edge, but here I am.

I have exercised almost every day since the last week of May this year. This is me trying to catch up and be the healthy person I know I need to be. But what was the catalyst for the change? In a word…agency.

What does this word mean?

Agency – a person or thing through which power is exerted or an end is achieved.

In short, it is having and exerting the ability to change something. For me, and I came to the point where I had to realize that I had the power to make decisions to change myself for the better. No one else was going to do this for me in. The choices that I was making up to that point kept me down a very bad path. Let me explain.

Nearly 2 years ago I was diagnosed with cancer. During the first six months of 2018 my body underwent a tremendous amount of bombardment. I had more chemicals and medicines poured into me than many people do in a lifetime, but ultimately it did me very good. However, it left me in a very weakened state. Four rounds of chemotherapy, surgery to remove tumors, and 21 sessions of radiation should have been enough for one year, but I also had an auto immune flareup and was on several months of prednisone to combat that as well.

Now you start to see a clear picture and I’m way I was in the worst shape I’ve ever been in in my life. I was very overweight and in very poor condition. I had a choice though. I could stay that way, or I could exert agency in my own life.

I realize that I make choices every day. Some choices are for the good and some for the bad. They’re my choices. No one makes them for me. I didn’t necessarily choose for my body to be in the state it was in, but I wasn’t making choices and to combat the bad things that happened. With God’s help, I am changing that permanently.

Part of me wishes that these decisions to be healthy could have come under more favorable circumstances. Part of me knows that more favorable circumstances would have never led me to these decisions. Many times we don’t have a choice in what life throws at us, but we do have the ability to choose our response. We can exercise our agency and make the right choices.

The story is far from over. I have been cancer free now for 17 months. I’m looking forward to the future. I’m looking forward to a body that is healthy. Do I have absolute certainty in all of these things, no. I do however have a certainty in the God that watches over me. I have certainty that I can make good choices and exert the agency He has granted me in my life.

Since I started walking in May, my endurance is coming back. Since I started lifting weights at the beginning of September, my strength has started coming back. This is only the beginning. We go forward from here one choice at a time.