Day # 177 - Anniversary

A year ago today, I was let go from my job. I didn't know it at the time but that simple act would plunge me into what has been the roughest and most didactic year of my life. I don't look back at it with bitterness, but with gratitude. I had grown comfortable, fat, and lazy. Now I'm hungry. I have my ambition and desire back. I have my priorities straight. Sometimes it takes a big moment to get you to correct your course. My big moment came on November 20, 2009.

It's been said that years teach us more than books. This year was definitely the equivalent of earning a master's degree from the University of Hard Knocks. I'd already earned my bachelor's from UHK, but I needed to go back to school.

I was initially upset. I was angry, I felt like a failure, even though I'd done nothing to earn my dismissal. Like most men, I take a great deal of pride and my feeling of self-worth and man-ness from my job. I had just been castrated, emasculated. It took me seven months to find a job and it took me a while to see what a gift I'd been given.

It was a gift because the forced austerity taught me to appreciate every nickel I earn and spend. I learned the value of my labor, and of my mind. I learned the importance of time with my family. I learned that the best way to improve yourself is sometimes to break yourself - or simply to rebuild when you are already broken.

I learned who my friends are. I learned whom I cannot trust. Instead of hating my enemies, I learned the point and the value of praying for them. I learned forgiveness, humility, and the value of improving myself. I learned to live without negativity (still working on it, I admit.) I learned to submit to God's will. I learned that the noblest vengeance is to forgive.

All this from those two little words Donald Trump made cool.

I can look back at that conversation of a year ago and say it altered the course of my life. The difference between now and then is I can say it was a very good thing indeed. I can look back and even though I know I didn't deserve what was done to me, I am better for it. The loss happened on the other side of the table. It's been all positive gains for me - even if it hurt for a while.

God bless you. Make it your best day yet.

- Adolfo