What A Difference Ten Years Can Make

What a difference 10 years can make...

On this day ten years ago, I lived in a small studio hotel room in Fort Lauderdale, FL. I had just relocated for work a few months earlier and was still waiting for the place I was going to live to be ready.

I had just met Lori in July of 2010, and only a few months later, I was offered a promotion at work that I had been chasing for quite a while. What do I do? I had just met this AMAZING girl, and now if I wanted to continue pursuing my dreams, I would have to move away from her.

“I completely understand, and I support you. I don’t want you to go, but you should absolutely go chase your dreams.” That was the first of a million times over the last 10 years that this amazing woman who has become my wife encouraged me to do something that wasn’t necessarily the best or easiest thing for her.

That Thanksgiving 10 years ago, she insisted on coming to Florida to spend the holiday weekend with me. I couldn’t come home because of my work travel schedule, and she refused to have me spend Thanksgiving alone.

Lori and I spent that Thanksgiving in 2010 in my little studio apartment/hotel room together, making a full Thanksgiving dinner in an oven the size of a microwave. We proceeded to pack up everything that we made into a picnic basket (plus some Coronas in a cooler) and head to the beach to have our Thanksgiving dinner together, just the two of us.

That day on the beach in Fort Lauderdale, I asked Lori if she would consider leaving everything and everyone she knew and cared about and move to Florida and live with me. Every morning when I wake up, I thank God that she instantly said “YES!” that day. That Thanksgiving Day and the courage I found to ask Lori that question that day changed my life. It gave me every blessing that you see in the picture below over the last ten years. It gave me a family that I dreamed of having all my life. It gave me a woman to spend this life with, that is the single greatest thing that ever happened to me. Without her love, support, and encouragement, I wouldn’t be a fraction of the same person that I am today.

We have so much to be thankful for as a family. Our life today is full of craziness, noise, screaming, crying, and plenty of messy rooms, but most of all, it is so FULL OF LOVE. We are thankful for: the love we have for each other that we get to share every day, the four amazing little humans that we have as children, our families, the businesses we get to be part of, all of the friends we have here at home and around the world, and our love for God that guides us to serve others and glorify him as a family every single day in everything we do.

We’ve come a long way in those ten years. 3 cities, 4 children, 5 homes, a wedding, multiple businesses created, plenty of sleepless nights, and more adversity both personally and professionally than I have time to list…but thru it all, we have created an amazing life full of everything important to us....and we have done it TOGETHER.

From our family to yours…we wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving full of new memories and time with those that matter most! Be thankful every single day, dream big, and never ever give up on what you want in this life. You never know...you just might end up with all of it! We love you all!