Top and left are after the dismounted IED in 2011. Bottom right is now 15 years later. Not much to see anymore, but what others don't see is the teeth, 4 ear surgeries, 4 arm surgeries, plates and screws, median nerve tube, neck fusion, facial scars, loss of grip strength, numb hand and loss of hand dexterity. Then there's the TBI and PTSD that comes with it's own set of challenges. The physical part was actually the easiest part. The hardest part was not becoming my injury. Not allowing myself to identify as a disabled veteran. Or excusing myself from participating in society. Lord knows I had an out if I wanted it. That's not who I am though. I needed to recreate myself. Create the identity I wanted for myself not the one that handed to me through injuries. There was alot to figure out, adjust to, redefine, and adapt to. I just knew I'd never get back to what I was before. It was about letting go of who I WAS and creating someone new with what I am NOW. It's hard to let go... My story is nothing compared to some. Alot of people have had it much worse than me. But it's my story nonetheless. Healing isn't pretty but it's possible. Get the mind right, pick yourself up, and keep moving forward. Life is short and each day is a gift. Don't waste time living in the past. Someone out there is going to need your testimony someday. Be ready.

High School Graduation party day for my oldest!

Vanguard is king of the blood work game here on X. And @a7las1984 is one of my favorite follows. You should enter because why would you not want a chance to do some blood work on the house. But either way, you should follow both him and @labs_vanguard!!

Me: "Hey kids!?" Kids: "What daddy?" Me: "Where is my square, I can't find it!" Kids: "What do you mean a square? what's it look like?" Me: "It's a blue triangle...."

Summer break has started for the kids. Yesterday, I took three of them to the gym. With the exception of 1, they don't have any gym time in yet. We focused just on chest yesterday. They are all stating how sore they are today. Win! I'm excited see which ones will grab on and make this part of their life! My son is already all on board with it and he's the youngest, not surprised!

After 1.5 years in the corporate world, here’s what I’ve noticed: The people in leadership positions aren’t always leaders. Too many seem more focused on control than results. They micromanage instead of delegating. They criticize and second-guess every decision instead of coaching and supporting their teams. When challenged, they often take it personally, reacting with emotion and sometimes even spite. They resist change, avoid new ideas, and stick to the same inefficient processes even when better options exist. They happily take credit for good ideas when it helps them look good, but recognition in performance reviews or raises? Rarely. They often hire their friends over more qualified candidates. The list goes on. What I’m seeing firsthand is the predictable outcome: good people are quitting, and the organization is starting to struggle. And who do they turn to when things get tough? The natural leaders, the ones who can navigate chaos, make something out of nothing, and actually get things done. Essentially, they are turning to the types of people they try to silence and oppress in the workplace. It's frustrating, to say the very least. Is this unique to my experience, or is this a widespread corporate reality? Would love to hear your thoughts, especially if you’ve seen the opposite.

I murdered arm day. -Karmelo What did you murder today?

The family you create should come before the family you came from. When extended family repeatedly damages your peace, boundaries become a responsibility, not an option. That's a sign of real maturity.

One verse that changed how I live: Revelation 3:16 — "But since you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." For years I tried to stay in the middle. Avoid conflict. Keep everyone happy. Be whoever the people around me wanted me to be. Then after this verse, I realized that standing for nothing isn't the same as being kind and likeable. It's often just fear of rejection. The older I get, the more I believe you have to know what you stand for and be willing to accept that not everyone will like it. There's freedom in that. Conviction does costs something. But, so does having none at all.

Man, I'm excited! My 13 year old son is doing his first wrestling tournament. First real match! Really excited to see how he does and all the feedback he will get. Will be a good guage to see where he's at. We'll know more about what he needs to work on and what his strengths are. Going to be a learning experience and he's nervous as it gets. Help me wish him some luck today! I know he's gonna do well 🙂 6 year old brother isn't going to wrestle today, but he will soon. He's the type that's gotta warm up to the idea so he's gonna be tagging along and watching.

Went for a walk this evening. Birds constantly attacking the neighborhood outside cat

He only needs about 20 more to get to 1k. Give him a follow. He also has a peptide site to check out. Atleast peep those. I always like to check out new sources 🤷‍♂️

Lets do a flex Friday. A little sun to bring the vascularity plus good natural lighting = pics that make the legs look better than they are. Happy Friday everyone; it's been a crazy week at the AFD household. Momma's still sick and she makes the world go round!

Had a bunch of food this past weekend. Really filled me out. Usually leaner and harder and leaner looking by Wednesday/Thursday. Yesterday was a good arm pump! Baby boy is doing better. Rough day on Saturday but good on Sunday and Monday so I think he's outta the water. Wife on the other hand, going through it now. Ugh. She was in bed all day yesterday and not feeling well. Atleast we know it wasn't just an isolated thing with my son and it's likely a virus, a nasty one.

Ugh I'm not sure this is really dooks and I clicked on it. See if I'm here tomorrow

Breakfast with the wife. Started eating it before I took the Pic haha

Update: Alot of people requested an update on little man. Yesterday he slept pretty much the whole day. He was active in the evening a little bit, was able to eat some food and keep it down. He went to bed and slept through the night all the way until almost 9am this morning. He hasn't had any medication today of any sort and has been acting much more like himself. He's went #2 a couple times and it was normal consistency minus the color that was a little off. So far so good! I swear he started getting better when all of you started praying for him. I was blown away by all the support and prayers! I expected a few prayer emojis and a few comments from my usual buddies here on X, but it was amazing to see so many people show up the way they did. It truly was comforting knowing prayers were being sent up. Thanks for lovin on my boy. Thank you all and praise God for hopefully another little battle won! ❤️🫶🙏

I could use some prayers today. Yesterday we were at the ED with my 3yearold. Everything seemed okay when we left. He had been vomiting a lot the previous 24 hours, and late Tuesday night he started throwing up blood. That’s when my wife and I took him in around 2am. We ended up being there about 12 hours, and when we left it felt like he was finally on the mend. But after we got home he slowly started getting worse again, and this morning he started throwing up again. The worrisome part is that he has a rare syndrome called Vascular EhlersDanlos Syndrome (vEDS). A lot of you may be familiar with Hypermobile EDS (hEDS)…that’s where joints are extremely flexible, people can contort their bodies, and they deal with loose joints, sprains, dislocations, and stretchy skin. It’s all connective tissue. vEDS is similar, but instead of the joints and skin being the main issue, it affects his hollow organs. So, we’re talking about his vascular system, stomach, esophagus, intestines, colon; basically,everything internally that you don’t want to be fragile. We found this out when he was born with a facial cleft. We were expecting a cleft lip and palate, but what he had was much more severe. It’s called a Tessier facial cleft. You can look it up if you want, but I won’t post pictures. He’s had five surgeries so far to put him back together, and honestly, he looks amazing considering where he started. When he was born like that, they did genetic testing to figure out why, and that’s when we found the mutation. It wasn’t inherited, just something that happened as a mutation. Because of that, blood in his vomit is a major red flag. As a parent, your mind goes straight to worstcase scenarios. He made it through the night with a couple episodes of diarrhea, but before I left for work this morning he started throwing up again. We’ll likely head back to the ED, but it’s concerning because he had a GI virus a few weeks ago; same thing the whole family had. So why is he dealing with this again? He’s such a good kid. I know vEDS can shorten life expectancy, but from what we’ve read and researched, major symptoms usually don’t start until puberty. So, seeing things like this now is pretty concerning. The doctors attributed the blood to the force of the vomiting, calling it a MalloryWeiss tear, which was honestly my suspicion from the start. The blood work backed that up; his hemoglobin was normal, so there’s no sign he’s actually losing blood internally. The rest of his labs point more toward a viral infection. I think the biggest challenge right now is just keeping fluids down long enough to keep him hydrated. My assumption is that the reason he improved while we were at the ED was because he was on IV fluids. He also had a fever, but that seemed to come down pretty well with Motrin. At this point it’s just tough. He’s been in the hospital a lot in his 3 years of life. He handles it about as well as you could expect; he’s compliant, listens to the doctors, but it still isn’t easy watching him get poked and go through more interventions every time. The kid is honestly a miracle and I know prayers work otherwise I don’t think he would have done as well as he has. So I am requesting prayers and are very much appreciated.