This week one of my relatives died. Not everybody has a guy like that in their life, but maybe you can be that guy to somebody else.
My very first time I met him, he was dating my relative. Older guy, divorced, his only kid was in college. He owned a bunch of land with his farm and an old house, raised some cattle, raised some crops, and ran a contracting business. Gun rack full of hunting rifles he'd use in his woods with his family and friends. Previous president of the school board in his town.
You ever meet a guy that makes you want to be a better guy? That was him.
He proposed marriage to my relative at Christmas. He got her a big box of Craftsman tools. Inside the box of tools was a ring. She said yes. She's damn alpha and runs her own business and has her own land too.
She moved to his farm, and they moved a bunch of her operations to his land. Built some new facilities to run things more efficiently. Kept the other property going too, and put tenants into her old house and turned it into a rental property.
I'll cut to the chase: he got cancer, people rallied, he found a bone marrow match, he got better, but never as good as he was. He wasted away on the treatments, and lost about thirty pounds of muscle, and got more sick, and decided the last week that he was done. Always in control, even when he had no abundant options left. Alpha-as-fuck.
Shit I learned from him:
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how to properly carve a turkey, where to cut first, how to angle the blade. I wish I learned that from my dad. I did not. It was him.
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my family did not come from a hunting culture. His does. I'm waking up tomorrow and getting on a plane for a hunting trip. I wish I had done this years ago and gone with him. I wanted to ask him, but I didn't want to be an amateur in front of him. I thought I owed him better.
Be that guy.
Be a guy that makes other guys want to be better so they can keep up with you.
[–]RCMasculinity3 points4 points5 points (0 children) | Copy Link