There is so much to say and at the same time so little needed to be said. I have so many posts running through my head right now and deciding which one to venture down the road of writing has been hard. I start many posts in my head while driving around delivering groceries and the past couple of days are no different. I usually start the post in my head and just let it flow out of me onto the phone as I type. I have had to pull myself back from a couple of posts the past few weeks and especially the past few days.

Bullies have been a focus lately in my family and I so want to do another post on it. I want to write something bigger than a blog post about them but that may happen someday.

Instead today I would like to go a little positive and stay away from negativity. I have wanted to delete Facebook for quite a while now. I’m tired of bots’ friend requests and reels of naked women all over BUT I keep it around for a specific reason and that reason came through this week in a few ways.

First off Congratulations to my buddy Joshua Granger and his new beautiful bride. I am so happy for him he deserves it more than y’all will ever know. Granger is a real man. When I say real man he was the guy every single one of us was scared of out of our own boot cycle. He got busted down multiple times and didn’t care he grabbed the Saw and carried it as the rest of us were Corporals leading teams and squads he was some boots Saw gunner. Did he complain, nope he loved having all those rounds to sling down range. I always thought when we got out he was the one who would end up in a ditch or jail. I am sure it came close multiple times but guess who won at life. He has a couple of amazing kids I get to watch grow up over Facebook and this weekend I got to watch reel after reel of his wedding and believe me I watched every single one with a smile on my face because that is my brother and he is happy.

Moving on to another Blackheart. I saw a little dude with the biggest heart standing with a diploma in hand. What it was for I can’t tell you. What I can tell you is my brother Marcos Alverado graduates this week. He raised two boys who now follow in his footsteps as a Marine and I can’t even tell you how many girls I stopped counting years ago. Alvarado is not someone I have kept up with via text or calls but someone I’ve kept tabs on via Facebook and watched as his kids whom I knew as babies grow to fine young men and women that I know their daddy taught them respect and honor. Even with no idea what his accomplishment is fully just seeing pictures of him in cap and gown and reading his “short” messages to his family and friends, I know he is out making a difference in the world and raising kids to do the same.

I have told my children multiple times you have so many uncles and aunts cheering them on and you will never meet most of them but they love them like family nonetheless. It’s funny each graduation year looking at kids I knew in diapers graduating my best friend in the Marine Corps daughter graduated Friday. I sat in the booth in Camp Ar Ramadi and listened as she was born. I was there for their first meeting on the Tarmack in San Onofre. I am still friends with her mother who was my homie back in the day when she was married to my buddy. She is not the only one I saw graduate this year.

So many kids graduating and others making All-Star teams and winning championships or playing for them all across my Facebook feed. My kids wonder why do you post pictures of us and tell Facebook what we did. Well because let some of my friends find out you all did something awesome like win a championship and not get to see pictures. They want to smile and be proud of you too.

The best part of being a Marine is that for the rest of my life and my children’s, they will have a cheering section so loud they can’t think of they heard it in real life. That cheering section isn’t just Marines it’s wives too. Last year I saw a buddy I hadn’t seen in years and he knew all the kids’ latest accomplishments and he looked at me and said I’m gonna be honest my wife tells me more about how yall are doing than I get a chance to look at myself but I do see it too.

I know I have been able to watch a bunch of my brothers this week just dominate life and it’s been such an encouragement. I will say that even those dominating now had to suffer at times too. We all sometimes make it by going to Facebook and seeing our brothers succeed and think I can do it if they can.

I am grateful I can be a cheerleader for all my brothers out there and each and every one of their children. I will cheer every single one of them on every time I see them doing something else like hitting multiple home runs in a game Miss Peyton Bradley or rocking kids at Lacrosse Mister Matt’s Romer. Yes I watch all of them kill it at sports and if a reel gets posted I watch it because I have to cheer for their kids just as loud as they cheer for mine.