Dan the man

I feel life is is full of sacrifices, some are good others not so much. As a young man, mid teens or so, my mind was full of dreams of a life filled with travel and adventure learning new and exotic cultures in which I wouldn’t have a mailing address just kind of roaming around the world until I got to where I wanted to be, wherever that would be. I had a plan it was most likely unrealistic at best, I would enlist in the navy or Air Force and stay for maybe two re-ups learn a trade or skill that I could hone and master and begin to think about settling down in my mid thirties or so, I would know when I got there. Instead finished high school found a job and stay in town, which made my parents very happy to the point where my father hired me to work for him as soon as he could. I would spend the next 16 years there, it was a wood shop and I would become a craftsman in skills I still use today. I would get married have children just like my parents and all 3 of my brothers, unlike my parents and brothers I would throw it all away after being married for ten years I was done living a lie, living a life someone else wanted me to live a life I had no control over. I divorced which was the worst experience filled with anger hatred and resentment, but I had been dying inside myself for so many years it was worse than having cancer and one day I just died inside there was nothing left I was a shell of a human being. So I sacrificed the love of my family altered both of my sons lives by leaving not knowing how nasty my ex had become. So I left with no plan I was too old to join the service and had zero resources because I lost everything in the divorce, a friend invited me to go live with them in Florida and I did and I have an amazing life, but it came with a huge amount of sacrifice the kind that gives me nightmares even today 27 years later. The journey has been filled with ups and downs but isn’t that what life is?!?! You bet it is.

I proudly subscribe to being both. It is extremely difficult to be just one all the time I don’t believe our ego can truly handle being one all the time. Anyone who is the most successful has had to walk in both shoes at some point.

Taking better control of my mind. Over the past 10-12 years I have tried and have had some success with controlling my thoughts, emotions, anxiety and how I respond to people and situations. I work to be a better listener when in conversations with others. I try to only give my opinions when asked and to respond respectfully. I simply take a beat, sometimes 2, but before I speak I consider the affect of my opinion and words will impact the person or people I’m speaking with. It’s not foolproof and I have struggled with it constantly, but then I realized what I needed to do was surround myself with like minded individuals and avoid the negativity of others. I have found myself walking away from many situations where I didn’t want to be in, which turned into a great way to manage my weight due to all the walking I’ve been doing.

Being able to live the life I want to live within the reason of the law of the land. To be able to exercise the rights that were given to me by the country I live in. To be able to pursue careers that enable me to be the best version of myself. To be able to earn enough to have a home a family. As a baby boomer I can tell you we as a society have had so many of our freedoms taken away from us by the very people we elect to protect our freedoms it’s sickening. I don’t know exactly when it happened maybe the late seventies early eighties, but it did the gradual removal of our rights and freedoms and we allowed it like the obedient sheep that we are. I myself am disappointed with our government, country and society today, our own government has been burrowing up our ass and in our lives for the past fifty plus years, and we let them. Our government is so big now it is impossible to dismantle it, we allowed them to make laws that cost us hard earned money to support them, they pass laws that allow them to be career politicians, they break the very laws they make right under our noses and we let them. They control the way we live work and play all in the name of protection, from who?? And who is protecting from our government??

Well, I am 3 years away from retirement and my wife and I are planning on moving a little further north and start a new business. My wife was a CPA for over 20 years in her native country, she has been a server here for the past 7 years. Now we are going to start an air B&B cleaning and repair business as well as working with local realtors. We have already been in contact with 6 different realtors who are interested in working with us. We can also do the same business in her native country which is where I would like to spend a far amount of time there.

Forensics or investigation, looking for answers through research and searching clues. I feel I would be good at that. It’s interesting to walk a mile in someone’s shoes even if they’re down and destitute or wealthy beyond imagination both present challenges that are unimaginable. I have had so many different jobs some I enjoyed others I despised, but did for a long time because of the paycheck. To me life is a constant yin and yang as it should be, too much of anything is going to sour over time.

Yes! I vote in local and national elections because I believe it’s our duty as citizens of the United States to do so. Unfortunately our political system is so corrupt and broken that it’s almost a waste to vote, but what are our options?? What I see today are two candidates that are I believe too old and tired to be that effective, we need a younger individual who has the best interests in keeping our country how it’s meant to be according to our constitution, and provide for the people of America opportunity, prosperity and protection from outside or inside influences. I feel our greatest enemy is corporate America that are buying whatever they want thru corrupt politicians. I am curious as to who will be the one to turn our country around, I have a plan B that will allow me to live a comfortable life in another country if this all goes to pot, but that means leaving behind loved ones and that is a very difficult decision.

Yeah, when I was a kid I was in the Cub Scout and then Boy Scouts and we camped a lot during the summer months. I did spend a lot of summers camping into my late twenties, but for some reason it just wasn’t a part of my adult life. Now my idea of camping is the Hilton or Marriott. I am physically able to and feel I’m in great shape to sleep in a tent I think I would need at the very least a popup trailer and I can’t camp here in Florida I’m thinking Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine upstate New York definitely up north.

When I’m building or creating, weather it’s furniture or landscaping my juices start flowing and don’t stop until I have created the image in my mind. Recently I was asked to build a to go counter for a friend who owns a restaurant near me, we met went over a few basic details and he let me run with it because he saw what I did for a mutual friend. It’s the same with my customers who ask me to weed their garden replace dead plants with new and just give things a facelift or an entire make over. For reasons I have yet to discover I do all this on my own, a side gig that has grown into an opportunity to be a real business, but I’m happy where it is and where I am with it.

The best one is marrying my wife. We met 9 years ago and it was not love at first sight at all, for me it was the culture (she’s Thai) for her it was the adventure. We met at her cousins restaurant she was here on a travel visa helping her cousin get the restaurant up and running. She was 3 months into her 6 month visa when we met and we hung out almost every day. She went back to Thailand and life went back to normal for me, we did keep in touch for awhile but it just faded away and then about a year later she called me and said she wanted to come back to America so I bought her a plane ticket and she arrived in April and we got married in August. That was 8 years ago and our life is amazing, almost story book. She was and is an educated professional woman who actually married me because she saw the good in me, hell I didn’t even know I had any, but apparently I do and she was willing to take the risk as I was. We grew to love and respect one another on a level I never knew existed.