Life Keeps Rolling

First, I want to thank Josh for sharing this platform with me. I don’t typically shy away from talking to large groups but realizing 14,000 + people have visited this page makes me hope I can meet the standards Josh has set. This is Josh’s dad, Matt and I want to take this opportunity to talk about what changed for me on February 11, 2017. It was 6:04 pm ,   Maria and I had just gotten our food at one of our favorite restaurants (T-Bones). We were with some friends (they’re really more like family) when my phone rang. I saw it was Zach and I was just about to “bitch button” him and send a text saying we were eating and I’d call back. I thought about that for a second and realized I had not spoken to him for a   while because he was just back from Afghanistan . S o I decided I would answer it so I could hear his voice and then tell him I’d call him back. I thank God for a lot of things in my life and answering that call is one of them. My world was rocked with just the words “D...

Building Dreams for Marines video   Take a minute to watch a quick YouTube video created by an extremely generous organization Building Dreams for Marines. BDFM is one of many in the long list of people and community that helped me and my family through an overwhelming situation.  I was a soldier in the Army. I tell you this because I lived off of a paycheck that was significantly lower than minimum wage if you don’t include the benefits like food, housing and the college GI Bill. Now, I’m not complaining. I understood that fact well before joining. I didn’t serve for the money. For me it was duty to Country and ultimately for the experience. I only tell you this to explain that I was never a man of wealth. Most of my money foolishly went into keeping my truck and motorcycle running. It was an expensive but also therapeutic and fun hobby. I loved tinkering around with engines and learning the ins and outs of my Ford and my Harley. The grease and dirt was a badge of honor for m...

Part of being confirmed in the Catholic Church is taking preparatory religious classes. One of these classes was Theology of the Body. When I was 16, taking this class was more of a check in the box so that I could get confirmed and get back to baseball after school. In hindsight, I was sining but I did actually learn a good bit from everything. Of course, I have a much more profound respect for the human body now. In theology of the body we were continuously told “your body is a temple”. I never really understood it... until I was forced to. I grew up as a skinny, lanky kid. I had an athletic build and a stupidly fast metabolism. I had a decent respect for myself already. Throughout high school I played sports and stayed physical but it wasn’t until I went out on my own that I knew that I really needed to maintain and improve myself. I entered the military at a whopping 140 lbs. I had just turned 19 and I was pretty much a clean slate. I thought that Army Basic Training was an absolut...