Every Story Has A Villain

 "The villain will always be the villain if the hero tells the story."

I think we can all take a step back for a moment and RIGHT now think of someone who is a villain in our story. 

Often this is someone that gets under your skin, consistently has opinions, often judges you, is your hardest competitor in life and most frequently bothers you for no great, apparent reason. 

I can think of half a dozen right off the bat that for no logical reason at all bother me. 

However, I can also think of my biggest villain in life! 

You see I was product of an 80's divorce. Every other weekend I would visit my dad and in between my amazing mother would try to balance raising three kids while carrying multiple jobs just to put food on the table. 

She made sure we had everything that was essential in life, and I will always be grateful for her dedication and commitment to the three of us. 

To say my dad was an incredible dad in those days would be an overexaggerated statement and not the whole truth. 

However, he was my dad and every boy at that age looks up to his dad as a superhero. 

While my dad didn't fully live up to the title of DAD, I still loved him so much and thought the world of him (never lost that drive and still miss him terribly)!

See the villain in my story entered my life in the late 80's. My mom started dating again and eventually married my stepdad. 

As a teenage boy I would often go out of my way to not like him. 

How could this guy possibly enter my life and think that he could ever earn my trust and love. 

To me he was the villain trying to ruin my story. 

I remember one day a candle got out of control and in a pinch to save the house from burning down he grabbed my winter jacket and put the fire out with the jacket. 

The jacket (which by the way was a junky jacket) was absolutely ruined. Instead of being mature in the moment I completely lost my shit on him and pretty sure used every profanity that had ever been said. 

Here is a man who had never said a harmful word to me, had never laid a hand on me, was extremely successful attorney, took care of his health via exercise and treated my mom like a queen and my immature mind looked at him as an evil villain. 

I had nothing to back up my anger outside of my dad wasn't around and that fueled my undeserved teenage angst against a man that I would eventually learn to think the world of. 

The world had dropped an absolute gift in my lap and all I could see through my think skull and hazed vision was a man trying to take over my dad's job. 

It took many years and dozens if not hundreds of positive experiences to realize that he was not the villain in my story. 

I was the villain, and he was the hero trying to save me! 

We often go through life with a vendetta against someone else and while sometimes that vendetta makes sense...often we have no reason to fully back up our hatred. 

This is a lesson I have learned multiple times in life and thankfully I haven't burned any bridges fully with my ignorance. 

My stepdad has blessed me in life more than I could ever repay him and while he battles Alzheimer's I want him to know that he has always been my hero and will continue to be a person I am grateful for entering my story. 

Take a moment today and see who the villain really is along your journey. I will bet more than once that you will notice that maybe it's YOU!

The greatest thing is that he probably doesn't even remember the jacket story, not because of Alzheimer's, but because he seemed to always digest what's happening in a positive light and how to move on to the betterment of what's next! 

With the help of the Alzheimer's Association, I have redone the fundraising/awareness page. The link is at the top of the page. 

Thanks to those who have contributed and thanks to those who take precious moments out of there day to read what's going on!