What made me create this website? I was at my house one Saturday Morning in 2015 and received a message on my phone from a friend that said pray for TJ – TJ was a friend from high school. My High School days were long over, and I never really stayed in contact with TJ much after High School. In 2015 I was not on any social media at all. It just was not my thing. Therefore, I was not in contact with a lot of friends from high school.

Anyway, TJ was two grades behind me in school. We played football together and both played the same position- Quarterback, so we were together every day at football. We practiced together every day, so we talked a lot during the season about life and everything two high schoolers talk about. I would go watch him play Saturday mornings trying to help him in any way I could. When we were in High School it was well before all the social media and cell phones. I graduated in 1992 and TJ in 1994. To make a long story short TJ was living in Florida with his wife and three kids. A healthy, young, and in shape guy- he ran often and even finished a full marathon not too long ago. A great Dad, Husband, son, and friend suddenly was found unresponsive by his wife at the age of Thirty-Nine years young and TJ passed away on 3/28/2015 from a brain hemorrhage. I have always had a hard time with death and as I have gotten older and have kids of my own you can’t help but think about what if you were gone. If it can happen to TJ it can happen to anyone at any time. Immediately you feel an overwhelming sense of sadness for his family, friends, and his kids. I started looking at his social media post through a friend’s Facebook page since I did not even have Facebook at the time. I saw he post a lot of videos and interactions with his kids. He would write lessons and things he has learned throughout his life’s journey. TJ even had a website or blog page called Dadfirst.net. He would post and write about life and being a Dad.

It broke my heart to watch his videos and see him with his kids. You can’t help to think about your own life and your own kids. I reached out to my friend to create a similar web site where I could write about being a Dad and anything that was on my mind. We secured the site “The Life of a Dad” I was determined to write monthly about what ever was on my mind. Mainly I wanted to focus on my family. What if one day I was gone? It happened to TJ so it definitely could happen to any of us. Of course, there are pictures and memories you have shared over the years, but I wanted my kids and family to have more- more stories, more of my thoughts, more of my ideas, and overall, just things they can look back on at some point hopefully a long long time from now but no one is guaranteed a long healthy life.

Since I had this idea in 2015 life events and work take time and you slowly do not have time “no extra time” to make post all the time. Well, the Good news is I did write about several topics over the years and just never posted them to the site. Now I have finally been able to get a site functional and can post things that are about my family and things my kids can always look back on.  These topics range from family trips, vacations, things I would want to tell my kids about, starting businesses, life events, death, terminal diseases, sports, and really whatever is on my mind. This was the reason for the site. I owe this site and idea to TJ Turner for giving me the motivation to start it and write about life – The Life of a Dad. You can’t go back in time, but I wish TJ and I were still in contact prior to his passing. I hope one day my family can read through the site and it gives them memories just like all of TJ’s post and writings. The site is mainly for my family, but others may stumble upon it and find some value in it, motivation, laughs, ideas, business advice, or maybe no value at all?!?! Who knows? Overall, I thank TJ for inspiring the idea. I wish TJ were still here to speak to him and be around his positive energy and I could thank him personally for the inspiration. I am sure we would have many discussions just like we did back on the football field.