I was born in Little Rock, AR to divorcing parents.
My mother moved back to California. I grew up in Albany while Mom attended UC Berkeley. I did summers with my Dad in Phoenix.
When I was 8 mom moved to Watsonville, CA. She remarried when I was 9. I lived in Santa Cruz County.
When I was 18 I became a Christian. Later I met a gal at church, fell in love and got married. We had a daughter. After a couple of years, I got a job in Florida and we all moved. Soon after we had another daughter. My In-Laws moved out to be close to the grandkids. My wife divorced me after six years.
After a year of watching my emotional state steadily decline, I made a change and moved to Phoenix. I lived there for two and a half years. While I was there I put my brain back in my skull and my heart back in my chest. I started discovering what it meant to be a man, and a generally mature adult. Basically I started to really grow up.
I quickly figured out that being a man for me meant being the dad my girls needed, and I moved back to Florida. I had been comfortable in Phoenix surrounded by supportive friends and family. The move back affected me on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels.
While I was in Phoenix I had been re-evaluating my Christian faith quietly in my heart. This came to fruition during and after the move. I ended up throwing out a lot of dogma. I discovered I was “being a follower of man” rather than Jesus. I discovered I disagreed with the Church about certain aspects of my life, particularly my dating and mating. Eventually I decided I deserved to be happy instead of telling myself what a rotten sinner I was. I decided to take more responsibility for my life, rather than always letting God be the Hero or Scapegoat of my life.
I met Michelle. She and I hit it off immediately. She’s Cuban and Irish, gorgeous, brilliant (smarter than me), and a wonderful, whole, awesome, grown-up woman. We quickly started dating steadily, and eventually moved in together. I love her with all of my heart. We’re not two halves of a whole, we’re two whole people together.
My daughters live with my ex-wife. I currently reside with Michelle a short while south of them in Deerfield Beach, FL.
I work as a web developer for a small start-up company in Del Ray Beach. I only recently started there, but already I love my job and I’d like to move closer to it soon. I play drums, hike, kayak, and write songs in my spare time.
It’s getting better all the time!
