Change

“Encourage us in our endeavor to live above the common level of life.
Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to be content with a half truth when the whole truth can be won.”
-The Cadet Prayer, West Point

I hope you know you can change
You can take ownership of your life
You can choose a greater good
Truth, compassion, courage, dedication, determination, dignity, discipline, integrity, loyalty, perseverance, responsibility, service, and trust…
These are virtues carved in stone at West Point
Let them be over your heart and life …
You can choose and you can build and you can change…
Take ownership of your life and where you are going…
Anything is possible but not everything
And when you fail or fall rise up and stay humble and build back stronger .
Life doesn’t happen by accident …
Success and sons and daughters prepared for life and equipped doesn’t
Happen by accident…choose and lead by example.
Maybe it’s not normal
Maybe it’s not common
But why not now
Why not change
Why not today…
What else is there?
-E

My son

Dear, son. It is my belief that the world is active and present…it has many disappointments and horrors and we have to choose to be in it.
Every moment in my life up to now was just running with water pistols…
Having children, spending days in the hospital, (this) bonding experience…
(This) is live ammo…
You don’t come out of this the same …
You’ll think you know but you won’t …
——
You will meet magical thinking …
You will meet poetic dreams …
You will meet “soulmates.”
Remember, the world is here…waiting …you have to choose to be in it…
Right now …from the moment you’re born …Until adulthood…
Choose…
Choose to be successful
Choose to build
Choose to love
Choose to stay
Choose your life …
And live….

Life is for the living and the bold …
There are no short cuts
Be courageous
Be strong
Be patient
And choose …
You will be fine
Take your life and choose it
I’m already proud of you…

-E

Life

My son…
Life is – building –
It’s habits countless routines …
Oh maybe
We inherit a windfall of perfection or finances …
Maybe a new house…
90 days in …
Look at it …
Your habits…
Your standards
What is acceptable to you …
They are in front of you…
The clutter or maybe debt …
Account balances …
My B…
She looked for reasons NOT to be with me…
I asked her more than once to date me and more than once to marry me…
My consistency paid off on all accounts.
But that’s very different from what people are used too…
We are told again and again
It’s good enough to just show up in life …
People and businesses will look for reasons NOT to pick you…
Limit those reasons make them as few as possible …
Create good habits …
Build other successful people …
This is your life your standards …
Adjust them…edit them…remake yourself …until you get it right …
You are building…
Oh but you don’t understand
We should take it easy
Someone will get us out
Someone else
Some hero
Some other election …
No…
No one is coming to save you…
Take ownership…
Why do you never see the military in jeans ?
The marines standing beside Air Force one …in jeans and a t shirt?
Commitment to excellence …
A standard …
A unit, everyone rises and falls together …
We hold eachother accountable to excellence and success …
My B…
She will send me pictures of dust or dirt that I need to clean…
If I left an ink pen on the counter …
I know I’m getting a picture of it…
Everything has a place and a home …
Everything gets cleaned every day…
Hold each-other
And yourself accountable to success…
Build your life …
Build people up and help them succeed …
Shine your shoes …
Iron your shirts…
Save your money …
Shave with a safety razor …
Take the time…
Look right be right and do right.
You will be very successful in life and at home…
Build …
This is yours.
Take it and grow.
-E

History

Our destiny is made by our choices …
Our emotions are not reality
We are emotional creatures but our emotions are not reality they are only indications of where our attention is going and where we are headed …
Someone comes along and tells us we shouldn’t be happy
We should be terrified
The world is burning
Our future is in ruin
Our emotions latch on
We look around and we will find things to agree with that …
Suddenly we are in the ditch …
Why do I believe what I believe ?
Where am I headed?
Why can’t I ever find what I need?
I’m unorganised …
Fix it …
Be organised
Be intentional
Know yourself
Move forward
Build
Be constant
Consistent
Forge ahead
And adapt and learn
Be self aware and grow
What an opportunity
We’ve been here before
We know what to do
History repeats
Ask your grand parents
Ask the boomers
Build
What else is there?

-E

Intentional

History repeats itself …

Short term debt cycles
Long term debt cycles
Our habits and our emotions drive us …
Consuming for what we want right now
Credit and credit cards
Increased power to purchase
without increased income
Betting that our future self will pay it off…
Inflation
Recession
10 years
40 years
The middle class gets squeezed
Stops spending money
Starts paying off their debts
Driving inflation up
And recession
The poor just try to survive
The wealthy have assets
So they are still able to get loans etc
When the banks foreclose or call on debts
They are able to pick up the pieces
Capitalism is the consumer….
There is no evil entity
70 percent of our economy is small business and consumer habits…
Be intentional
Know where you are going and why
Control your future
Or your habits will control you …
——
If you’re calm
Constant
Consistent
Know where you’re going
The long nights
The early mornings
They all will be worth it
——
Watch the morning
The fall come in
Watch the seasons change
You’re making your future
You’re arriving
You built this
Together
With changing habits
——
I’ve been fortunate
I haven’t always been the best I could be
I was dishonest
I lied
I drank
I wasn’t my best
I’ve been forgiven of much
I didn’t go to college
I worked since I was 14
And with my father before that …
But I’ve been given second chances
I have a family
I have a home
I’m building
And I’m thankful ….

What else is there?

-E

Forge ahead

What does this have to do with you and your goals ?
Maybe some days feel a lot like Monday and it feels like the world is off it’s track …
Everything is demanding your attention…your comment …
What does it have to do with you and your goals?
Forge ahead…
Someone said I should be angry because my tax dollars …
Forge ahead…
I should be angry because …
Forge ahead …
I woke up, purchased more shares, asked about parental leave (turns out I get six weeks leave) and I’ll purchase more shares for my son…
Building consistency
A legacy…
Forge ahead…
I know I don’t have the answers
I know I’ve made mistakes
But the way I see it,
The best way to protect and secure the future is to forge it…
Be responsible to it …
Maybe I came from nothing in material things …
But my son will inherit a legacy
And we will give back
And we will raise a standard of pride and excellence and responsibility
To ourselves and our community.
What else is there …
The world is off its track demanding your comment …

What does this have to do with you and your legacy?

-E

Intention

I feel very lucky
And I feel very overwhelmed by the awesome responsibility of being a father …
Raising a son and sending him off into adulthood…
I consider how much I struggled and tried to figure out
Even the small things …
Shaving, picking out a suit,
How to budget, how to invest, how to save …

Gladwell said it takes 10,000 hours to master a new ability or skill….
But in our time…
By the age of 21
We’ve clocked 10,000 hours playing a video game or binge watching a tv show …

Psychologist say we’re stuck in adolescence pushing it to 24 …
Failure to launch…trial independence ending at 29…
How
We love the story of the prodigal son…
Irresponsible and coming home to a fathers love …
Only in our time we have sons waiting for fathers to come home, to take on responsibility…to stop drinking …to stop leaving…
——
Is this what we came here for?
Young men
Stumbling into adulthood
Not really quite sure where it begins
And what to leave behind
What to sacrifice
And what to take up as responsibility
What the worth is…in living this way…
——
Intention
——
It’s quiet
It’s just knowing the process
And trusting it
It’s holding eachother accountable to success…
To pride and honor
To responsibility
So we leave no one behind
We don’t stumble forward …
It’s walking with each other and teaching the processes, how to step into adulthood …
So I have this window of opportunity…
I have maybe ten years to prepare for this …
But if I’m selfish …
I’ll miss it…
——
I’ll miss it with what is easy…
What is comfortable …
I’ll miss it…
—-
Don’t miss it…
You only get so much time …
10,000 hours
Maybe it’s not enough to just send them out…
Maybe it’s more …
Maybe it’s showing them how to live
How to question
How to understand
How to fix the broken things
How to know the worth of things and not just the cost …
How to move into adulthood ….

So I feel very lucky …
And I feel overwhelmed by the awesome responsibility of being a father …
Maybe we all feel this way …
But there is time to prepare
If you only take advantage of the opportunity. No it won’t be easy. But it will be worth it. What else is there?
-E

Sober

This is sober…
Almost a year …seven months…
This is fatherhood…
This is …
This is getting your life on track.
Getting your health on track
Your finances on track.
Loving and supporting and being loved and supported.
It’s sacrifice,
Long days,
Long nights,
142 miles a day commute.
This is figuring out what you want your life to be…
What you want to leave behind
What you want your son to see .
I was drinking everyday
It was easy and most people didn’t know it …
I looked terrible
I didn’t like the way I felt
I didn’t like the way I acted and I didn’t like myself …
I was always trying to stop
Like trying a budget
Or a diet …
But that’s not how progress is made…
And then I met this girl
And we stayed up all night talking about what we hoped our lives would be
Our goals were very similar
It was things we could pray about
I called her one night and told her I was going to go a week without drinking…
I felt better
I went two weeks …
I got a promotion at work
The culture at my job was one I could align with
And it pushed me to be better and improve and be right and true
And tell the truth …
I knew I needed order in my life
And that drinking was just a short cut
It would cost me in my health down the road …and it was costing me in my finances right then.
I went a month …
I just never picked it back up…
I don’t want my son to see me like that…
Taking short cuts…
I want him to see the work
The dirt
And the win.
The right and true.

Be right and do right.
It’s a long road …
It’s harder and longer than you think it will be…
But it’s worth it.
The win is worth it
no short cuts…
No one can take this from you.
This is yours.
This life,
This future,
This here and now.
-E

Decades

I’ve been here for so long now

Even the shadows are years…

——

The press and the prince of peace

The rust and nightmares in my sleep

They all drink together

But I’ve still been sober

I’ve gotten over

Whatever it was …

It was lost in the rush of drafts

And forgotten notes

On my typewriter and guitar …

—-

Whatever you think you are

However far you’ve come

Just wait

Don’t be the fool at the gate

Giving it all away

You’ll surprise yourself

There’s still time to change

Just wait

——

I’ve been here so long now

Even the shadows are years

——-

They will put you in first

Pour you a glass

Pat you on the back

Hurry up kid

Join our sadness

We feel the same as you

Sorrowful clown

But the years turn to decades

Weekend for weekend

Nothing ever changes

Only

Your sorrow to anger

Your affection to addiction

You’re stuck now

——

Get out kid

Get born

It’s inside of you

The thing you’re looking for

In the world

At the end of the road

At the bottom of the glass

It’s inside of you

The change you need

The strength to shoulder the burden

Of simply living and bleeding

Walking and sleeping

Eating and loving

And if you are leaving

——

I’ve been here so long now

Even the shadows are years

You have everything you need

The worst has already been written

The best is in beginning

But the courage is in the finish …

– E