Items

• 2021-01-10

  A COVID Virus Christmas

  Christmas of 2020 is approaching fast. Faster than usually, as this year has seemingly sped by quicker than any year before. Perhaps the first sign of the coming Christmas season is when I open the fridge to find a bottle of Califia brand eggnog. Just as I think that Christmas will be perfectly normal this year, I hear some disappointing news. My cousin Michael is coming home from the Marines... With COVID. This means that I will not be going to my cousins house in Burbank like always, but that I will be spending Christmas at my own house. I don't like the idea of Christmas away from my cousins at all. I have been going to Burbank for Christmas for as long as I can remember. That being said, I can't do anything about my cousin getting COVID. On Christmas Eve, my mom grilled some steaks for dinner that she had gotten from Gelsons market, and we watched Four Christmases and Die Hard. In the morning, I woke up without the usual anticipation and excitement that comes with a typical Christmas morning. I walked down the stairs to discover the presents my parents had ordered online. I opened them, thanked my parents for the wonderful gifts, and started playing the new game I had got: Call of Duty Cold War. The rest of the day seemed like any other, and so did the rest of the week, and rest of the month, and the rest of the year at that. Now it's 2021. Everyone is filled with hope that this year will be far greater than the last, but I seriously doubt it. Especially with the news we all got on Tuesday, January 5th. That said, all we can do is stay positive and keep our heads up. As Winston Churchill once said, "If you're going through hell, keep going."
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  2020-05-18

  Getting Even Closer Through Schoolwork

  This photograph I took is of my three children, on the couch, with the computers they used to finish the school year during the quarantine. I am recently divorced and serve as an active duty service member, 2017 is when we started the separation process. During the process, my ex-wife and I were on good terms and on agreement on everything but one thing, custody. 2017 is also the year I came to Christ and started opening the Bible, learning by reading and listening to His word about the Gospel and what Jesus did for us. This changed my worldview and my entire outlook on life. Towards the end of the year I got orders to go to Parris Island South Carolina to be a Drill Instructor. I was excited and sad at the same time, for I knew there was no way I could continue to take care of the kids while serving this duty. But I knew I could trust God with my kids, even if they weren't in my care and that if I wanted them back that it was just a matter of time (the duty being 3 years long). Fast forward a year and having spent months in the most demanding job I have ever had, I was extremely upset for the living situation my children faced while I strove to lead and mentor future Marines. Conversing with God through prayer I told him how I felt and how I longed to have my children live with me again. Within a week or two, my ex-wife reached out to ask if the kids can fly across the country to live with me! We did the paperwork, and I have had custody since January 2019. During the quarantine, I constantly pondered what the situation would be like for the kids and me if things had not changed for us in 2019. 2019 was the most rewarding and satisfying year thus far for me as a parent. Not only would I not have had that, 2020 probably would have been unbearable for me without the kids. I’d still be a Drill Instructor and my children would be struggling in their studies. Homeschooling the kids opened my eyes to just how much one-on-one time they needed in certain areas. One-on-one time they should have been getting from me as their dad. This quarantine gave me the time I needed to focus even more on the kids and I loved every minute of it, spending literally 24 hours, 7 days a week with them. We struggled at first, this was not the kind of homeschooling I would have preferred to do, but we made it work. I can’t help but feel so blessed and thank God for it. At the same time, my heart goes out to all the families who weren’t/aren’t as lucky. I just happened to be at a point in my life and career, where I could stay home with the kids and not worry about money or losing my job. Our bonds were strengthened and we grew so much closer together, I wish it could continue this way but I look forward to the kids going back to school. I believe that they are ready, if everyone is smart about it then we can make face-to-face classroom instruction a reality. Most schools are not at this point yet and I’m still unsure if it’s going to happen or not as we are weeks away from the first day of school. Whatever the case, I just wanted to tell a bit about my quarantine experience and how my family got to where it was during it.