forward to the past...

Tuff Love...

This past week I lost someone very special in my life, "Big Mike" was a friend and even like a father to me. I was blessed to have him in my life as he was my best friends father and my football coach. On the football field he taught us to be tenacious and tough, but in life he taught us to be respectful gentleman and loving. Him and his wife Sue took me into their home when I was 9 years old, it was a very difficult time for my mom and I, and at the time they were practically strangers to me who took me in as one of their own. I lived with them for the next year and half until my aunt could take me in. The year or so I spent under their roof taught me a lot about family and family values, this time I spent living with them and their intervention into my life was the rebuilding point in which my mom started her path to recovery, and ultimately forged the way for my mom and I to become a family unit again. These strangers went on to become my family, my mom and I consider everyone of their family our family till this day. From that football field that we met on some 20 years ago, a lot of things have happened, and as the world turns out in only godlike fashion today 20 years later I own a business with 2 of Big Mikes sons. We are still using the same skills of toughness and determination that we were taught playing football, just on another playing field. Keep your head down,keep driving, keep chopping your feet, get back up and hit them harder, these are the things we tell ourselves when we are against the grain in our adult lives. It blows my mind to look back at that 1 decision that Big Mike and Sue made by telling my mom she needed to get help and that they were taking me in until she got help, how much of my life's success has come from just that one simple heart full decision that they made after a football game 20 years ago. For that decision I will always be thankful!!! they say the world works in mysterious ways, and it is so neat to think that by making a positive decision to care or lend a hand to help some one how much it can affect the world moving forward and exponentially lead to good things in other peoples lives. Don't be afraid to help people who need help, after all it is a round world in which we live and all things do come back around. I wanted to share a few pics we found while gathering photos for his wake, most of these photos were taken in Southwest Philadelphia in the 1960's. My mom considered Big Mike a best friend until the day he left us…

Have you ever seen the sunset over a cosmological horizon...

Turning Sad luxury into Glad luxury...

If your reading this I would ask that you stop for a second and think about your mental well being and mental health, it is something most people take for granite, or don't take the time to understand others who may be having difficulty coping with mental stresses and disorders. A few weeks ago I was forced to slow myself down from todays speed of instant, to live in the moment and understand why my daughter Madison was struggling with her thoughts. At first I would get mad, then confused and sad, until I realized that I needed to "get" Madison. What I'm saying is that I needed to get why she was feeling the way she was and what was causing her anxiety. She was having "bad Thoughts" that lead to anxiety,stress, depression,and compulsions mind you she is 5 years old and this was breaking my wife and my hearts. It was almost impossible for us to process this heavines, we couldn't understand why our bubbly lil' sunshine wasn't feeling good mentally. We took to the internet naturally to see what it could possibly be, and all fingers were pointing at OCD or obsessive compulsive disorder. Living in the Philadelphia area we are fortunate to have some of the worlds best medical treatment, the Univ. of Penna. has a special childrens OCD center so we opted for that. Soon as we started talking to the Doctor there the angst and weight got a little lighter, and they made us feel comfortable in how they could ultimately help our daughter start feeling better again. In the 2 short weeks we have been working with doctors to understand the OCD thought process and cycle of her disorder, we have seen an amazing foundation being built and a promising future that she will learn coping skills to manage this with little to no anxiety or she may ultimately be able to free herself from OCD as a whole. I am writing this as an outlet for me to get it off my chest, but also because I am wearing it on my sleeve that yeah she may have this lil' problem, but we are going to fight it off to the best of our ability in hopes that other people may take a second to think about someone they love or know who is struggling and try to help them and or stand by them while they aren't feeling good "upstairs". My Madison has brought so much happiness and joy to my world and I'll be damned if I'm going to let OCD steal the smile from her face, but it really does take a village to raise a child. We have had so much support from friends, family, and Doctors, all aligning to help and this has enabled us as parents to be stronger and hit this head on. I know this is not par for a bad luxury post, but this is the most important blog post I have ever written on Badluxury. If this post can help shed just a glimmer of light on the importance of slowing oneself down enough to live in the moment with that person and rid yourself of self indulgence enough to help and understand that someone, then stand by them on the road to recovery, it may be a long staircase to climb, but one little step at a time will get you to the top. I wanted to share just a few of the thousands of memories that have made me so happy to call Madison my daughter, and I have faith in her as she is a strongminded, and determined little girl that she will overcome this and we will have millions more similar happy memories to share. If anyone has a story to share or has had someone they know suffer from OCD I would love to hear via email (alex.n8tive@gmail.com), I am trying to learn about this as much as I can. Anyone out there suffering from mental health issues, stay positive, strong, seek and don't be afraid of getting help, be an advocate for your own success and well being. Peace & Love. Viva Luxury