Today is Thanksgiving, so I though it would be a good idea to list some things I am grateful for. 
This past year has been quite an interesting year for me. I’ve experienced joys and struggles in life and in business. From childhood I’ve always had to preserver through life which had helped me to see the goodness in life, in people, and in myself. With the number 34 being my favorite number (football # of Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears) I’ve always expected my 34th year to be an interesting one, if not my best. The past year has been a year that I have never expected to be, so many life curves and discoveries. Without a doubt, the past year has been the best year of my life. It has been a year of highs, lows, joys, and struggles, though all in all, the best. The past year, I’ve learned to rediscover many truths about my life, about what I love, and what I should love. Most importantly, I’ve learned to start a new journey, a journey of peace.
Thankful For – IN 2009
Here are a few things I am grateful for in the past year.
1. Journey of Peace
This year started off high in life, then life threw a curve ball (or two) and experienced much sorrow and pain. It wasn’t until many of the things I took for granted in life were gone that I experienced true gratefulness. This past year I reached rock bottom in some areas in life and I started to see how many of the problems in my life were nobody’s fault but my own. I started to see a newness in life, a newness is me, and an opportunity to make a better life for myself. I felt like this past year was a year of redemption for me, a second chance to be a good and decent man, a better man. I simply learned to embrace Peace, to share Peace, to be a man of Peace.
2. Good Friends – Old and New
I could not have survived this past year without the support of my close and dear friends. My life-long friend of 20 years Rafael Dodge who always finds the fun in life. My best friend of 10 years Erica Twining who remains my friend through thick and thin. My new and dear friend Carisa Boatright who helped me embrace the new peace I found and to truly appreciate life. Also, my dear friends who believed in and supported me in the crazy and unpredictable path of entrepreneurship, my friends Lee Waterman, Colleen McPhillips, Tanya Milhaud, Mary Salvatera, Marzena K, Johan Viberg, Greg Wasmuth, and Lisa Leonte.
3. Family, Family, Family
I grew up with a very large family in Chicago, lots of uncles, aunts, and cousins. When I was 12, my mother, sisters, and bother moved here to California, it was just us 5 (Mom, Tanya, Tawana, Noah, and me). We learned to become very close and to help each other out in need. My family has never hesitated to support one another and no matter what life throws at us, we can always count on each other to be there. I am thankful that my family is a family of unconditional love.
4. Entrepreneurship in Social Media
I was fortunate enough to venture out into the entrepreneur life and start a small business, even more grateful to start with investors. Starting a business in social media has been an experience like none other. Lots of networking events, launch parties, and a vast pool of others entrepreneurs trying to build their idea. I found an unique niche in social media data and found investors whom I will always be thankful to for believing in the idea, the product SocialSimple.
5. Rise In Social Media
I’ve been in the web industry for 13 years and have seen an increase in the online communities and the distribution of user-generated content early on. I’ve always tried to get places I worked at or clients to embrace social media though it always seemed to fall on deaf ears. I was always asked “Why” or “How do we make money”, there was never a good ROI for corporate America go get into social media and the agencies I worked at, the sales groups didn’t understand much about the potential. Now it seems like everyone and everything is into social media, my dog has a Facebook page. Even my 55 year old mother is on MySpace and Facebook. Maybe now with the rise of social media, more people/companies/clients will learn to embrace the true power of the internet — user generated content.
Thankful For – IN LIFE
Here are a few things I am grateful for in life.
1. My Stuttering
Throughout my life I’ve always stuttered (still do). Growing up as a child, I’ve been to speech therapists, hypnosis doctors, and all sorts of “cure” stuttering techniques. I grew up thinking my stuttering was a disability, something that limited me to being successful. I even thought it was a curse by God, that God did not love me and that I was damaged goods. In school, I was a smart kid, though never showed it because it required talking, talking in front of people. When there was a problem on the board and the teacher asked for the answer, I knew it, though never raised my hand because I knew I would stutter. I lived a life like this for a long time. It wasn’t until my mid-20s that I decided that stuttering would not and should not limit me. I learned to accept it and embrace it. I am grateful and thankful that I live the life of a stutterer, that I have something unique and something that is special about me. I am capable of anything, no matter what!
2. Ashley – Such a Wonderful Dog
Eight years ago my wife and I decided to get a dog, at the time it was a big decision for us. After a long search we found our little girl, our Ashley. She is such an amazing dog, the most gentle, and warm spirited dog. When she greets you, she has nothing but licks, licks, licks. She has been an abundance of joy, every day I am grateful that she is my little girl, my precious little girl.
3. Married To My Best Friend
I am thankful for my marriage to my best friend Erica, more than a wife, a best friend. Most know that I could write more on this topic, I’ll just leave it as is.
4. Successful Career In Web
I love web, all things web. I am thankful that I get to work each day working in an industry that I love. How cool is it that I get paid to do what I love, what I do best – web. I’ve had a career in web as an Web Application Engineer, Web Developer, Manager, and Founder. I am also very thankful to have worked with many great web teams, many who have become life long friends.
5. Saved From Humbled Beginnings
Only a few people know this, though now that I am posting it on my blog, guess the mouse is out of the bag. I grew up very poor, in the slums of Chicago, my family was on welfare, ate government food from the local churches, and always wore hand me downs. In the ghetto, not many good influences around, many friends were recruited into gangs and just about everyone I knew was trouble of some sorts. My mother knew this and wanted to provide a better life for us. When you live in the ghetto it’s very very very hard to get out. My mother, found a way, found a way to get us out. With all her might and through the ridicule of our family, she moved us to California. The slums of San Diego are still 10x better than the slums of Chicago. I’ve always wondered what would have happened to my life if we stayed in Chicago, would I have joined a gang, would I have forever stayed trapped. I do not know, though I do know my life now is a better life. Thank you mom!
