A decade of growth and scars

As I sit here reflecting over the past decade, I am truly overwhelmed. This past ten years has been filled with some of the highest highs of my life and lowest lows. I am speechless when I look at where I started in 2010 and where I am now. Never in my wildest of imaginations would I have imagined myself as a husband, a father, a published author of two novels, an award winner and a Googler living in the heart of Silicon Valley. With all of this accomplishment, I am humbled by the low points, the challenges and the seemingly impossible surprises faced.

I look at the relationships in my life and I truly couldn’t have mapped them a decade ago, I wouldn’t have been able to guess the twists and turns and who the most important people would be in my life today. I remember the tear filled nights as I struggled with the health challenges of my son, a new father who never envisioned an unhealthy baby in his future and who has had to come to terms with the unfortunate reality that we are sometimes unable to control everything that happens in our life. The joy of seeing that little boy outweighs any fears for the future and I will gladly stand by his side through more doctors visits, tests and whatever else may come. I will teach him to embrace his scars and take pride in the man that he becomes because of them.

As I reflect over this past decade, I can’t help but look to the future. To the dreams unfulfilled and the challenges that lie ahead, to a more complex life that demands more of me now than ever before in my past. I understand that everything I have faced to this point, has only prepared me for my life now and I accept that reality with a weary smile. Things never truly get easier as we move forward in life, we simply have more scars that serve as reminders to what we can overcome.

Here is to the next decade and the scars that make us who we are.