Rain showers bring flowers. January, February, March and April, were tough. May and June were filled with highs and lows, but growth isn’t all smiles and rainbows. There’s pain and suffering. They’re accompanied by loneliness and constant worry. You are not alone, God is with you. Seek him and he will guide you through the showers and to your flowers.
I started writing this on May 10th. I thought I was going to be done by June 1st, but my laptop charger broke. I couldn’t work like I wanted to. My deadline is July 1st. Yesterday was hella busy so I’m dropping right now on July 2nd.
Plans change, but my goals remain the same. I want wealth, health, and security in all aspects. Freedom is what I’m after. I will have complete control of my schedule. I will go on vacation when I want. I will be able to go to all my son’s events and everywhere else I’m invited. I’ve missed out on so many weddings, birthday trips and other things cause my pockets were tight. I will have complete financial freedom in the next few years. I’ll be able to afford everything I want and need.
People grow together and grow apart. Last year at this time my relationship was about to start. We had no idea what was about to happen. It almost came to an end, but we’re working and growing together. Also, we’re growing separately to become the best versions of ourselves.
Things were rough at the top of the year. Now things are looking swell. I got a new job and a new car. On top of all that my son lives with me full-time. These are the flowers I was speaking of and they’re beautiful. I prayed for all these things for over a year. I spent countless nights with negative emotions. Dark thoughts crossed my mind, but God’s timing is perfect. Every time I thought I couldn’t make it God came through in the clutch.
In early January I got my cyst removed. This isn’t the first time I’ve had the procedure done. It was the first time I got it done like this. They numbed my head, but it was still painful. It wasn’t unbearable, but I felt the pressure of the doctor pushing and pulling inside of my head. It was gruesome. Blood dripped down my forehead and on to my California fishing shirt. I remember looking to the left and seeing a large pile of bloody napkins. I had to wear the head bandage for a couple days and I was out of work for 2 weeks.
I bounced back strong, but I wasn’t prepared for this next hurdle. In late January my Uncle Leroy died. My maternal grandfather died in late October. I’m still recovering from that. People who really know me know how much they meant to meant to me. I’m holding tears back and I have chills as I type. Those were my guys. My two multiple sclerosis warriors are gone. Losing them back to back has been indescribable. I have both of their obituaries in my car. I take them with me everywhere I go.
These two are the main reason that I’m such a health nut. My maternal grandfather and my paternal uncle both had multiple sclerosis. I watched them suffer for most of my life. I was 9 years old when I started to help take care of my grandpa. I’ve fed him, changed his diaper, taken him to the doctor and everything in between. It was gross as fuck at times, but If I could have one more chance to do anything with him, I would take full advantage of it.
On the other side Uncle Leroy was only 48 years old when he passed. He’s been sick since he was in his mid 20s. He was the cool uncle that lived out of town. My family oozed a contagious joy when Big L came down from New York.
My mom always spoke highly of Leroy. She said he was always nice and respectful. She and a lot of my relatives say I reminded them of Leroy because he wasn’t in the streets or a tough guy. The Betancourt boys we’re always involved in some foolishness, but Leroy was never that type of guy.
Leroy was a twin. On the night he passed his twin brother Leon screamed at the top of his lungs, “Why God? He was the good one you should’ve taken me. “He fell to his knees right in front of me. I was sitting on the couch and I couldn’t do anything but cry. My dad has four brothers and two sisters. The family tree lost a branch. Things will never be the same.
Burying my uncle was one of the hardest things I had to do. I had to pull myself together and help lead the family. That night I walked up to dad and said “You’re the captain now. Grandma and Grandpa are down bad and they have to process this. You have to steer the ship. These next few days are going to be tough, but I got your back.”
The next week was spent planning a funeral. I didn’t think I would be adding this to my resume so soon but it happened. I knew in my early 20s that I would have to step up and be one of the patriarchs of my family. I didn’t know exactly how it would happen, but I knew I would step up when the time was right.
The next few weeks we’re tough but I made it through. I had to stay strong for my son. He’s seen so much death for an 8-year-old. In late May I was taking him to school and he broke down crying. He told me that he was thinking about all the relatives he lost over the past few years.
I fought depression daily, but things we’re moving in the right direction. Then some more wild ass shit happened. In early March, I was playing kickball with my high school students. As I rounded second base I fell. My ankle was little stiff, but I got up and walked it off. An hour later I was in Walmart with one shoe on because my ankle swelled up. It looked like I had a grapefruit in my sock. I couldn’t put any weight on my ankle and I was on crutches for a week. The pain was throbbing and it felt like my ankle weighed 1,000 pounds. I was thinking take my whole ankle away. I don’t even want it anymore. I was in so much pain. I would’ve let somebody cut it off.
I tried to go to work at Nike the next day, but they sent me home. I’ve never broken a bone or had any serious injuries. I had neck surgery before, but never any injuries that limited my mobility. I was down bad. I didn’t do any fitness related activities for two weeks. I didn’t do any weighted exercises with my legs for like a month. The injury sucked but it made me realize that I’m getting older.
Once I healed, I had a great opportunity to show my bounce back. I started coaching track in January. Life was throwing hurdles at me. I jumped each one and still made time for the kids. Sometimes at the track meets they have coaches’ races. I competed in a few and did very well. Now the team expects me to run at every meet. At a track meet in March I smoked the competition. Our head coach told me that he was going to enter me in the open 100m with some real competition.
I started practicing with the team to prepare for the race. I saw the qualifying times. Dudes we’re running under 11 seconds. I think I could break 11 seconds with proper training. I was doing pretty well with my training until I pulled my hamstring. When I pulled it, I thought I was going to collapse. My legs were trembling and my head started spinning.
I thought to myself damn Marc you’re old. I just recovered from sprained ankle, now I pulled a hamstring. Everyone told me I needed to slow down a little bit. I don’t think so. I just have so stretch more and train smarter if I’m going to compete. I turn 30 in late July. I figure I have 5 more years of prime Marc if I train hard and stay fit. That way when I start declining, I will be in peak physical form. Then I can just maintain it from there.
After a couple weeks I began to work on legs again. I was doing pushups and upper body work because of the injury. I’ve already missed a month of fitness because of my cyst and my ankle. I couldn’t afford to miss any more time. The gym is one of my happy places. I find so much peace in there and when I’m playing competitive sports. Once I have a better grip on my schedule I’ll began playing again. I’ll start by hooping and see what else my schedule permits.
Speaking on scheduling my son moving here completely changed my schedule. Plus, I got a new job and I quit working at the school. Also, I quit working at Nike in late June. I was planning on staying for 5 years and getting my lifetime discount, but it wasn’t in the cards. I might be able to go back and finish out but we will see what happens.
Anyways on to the new job. I applied for this job in January. I interviewed in late February and was offered the job three days later. They told me the process would take a couple weeks. They just had to get some contracts finalized and they would bring me on. I waited patiently, but weeks began to pass. Eventually a month passed. I was uneasy and I had no idea what to do. I called and emailed to the point where one of the owners got spicy with me via email. I felt some kind of way, but I didn’t care I needed this job. One month turned into two months and still no start date in sight. I finally got the green light in late April.
My start date was May 2nd. I was ecstatic, but I had other things on my mind. Before I started my new job my mom Lil Marc and I traveled to Boston for Carlos’s heart transplant anniversary party. In 2020 my 6-year-old nephew Sean died in a car accident. After he passed his parents decided to donate his organs. Seanie was able to save six lives. One of those lives was a little boy named Carlos. Carlos’s family got in touch with my family via Facebook.
A year after Carlos got his new heart, he and his family came down to Orlando to hang out with us for the day. We had a BBQ/pool party. It was a grand time. This year Carlos’s family wanted us to come up and hang out in Boston for a celebration. We went but my emotions were heavy. My nephew’s death is a messy situation that still hasn’t been resolved, but that’s a different story. My brother and his baby mama are at odds and he wasn’t able to go. I didn’t want to go for various reasons, but I couldn’t let my mom and son navigate that terrain alone.
I was in Boston with my favorite people, but I was surrounded by fake people and strangers. I kept thinking to myself, why am I here? How did I get here? None of my direct decisions bought me to this point, but I had to bare the weight. Like I said earlier I knew I would have to be the patriarch of my family and here’s a concrete example. I was angry when I was in Boston, but I was excited to travel and see a new city. I did make the most of it. I didn’t want to be there under those circumstances. Being around people who I didn’t like made it even worse, but I saw the bigger picture. Lil Marc really loves Carlos and even though Sean is gone it felt good to see Carlos’s family happy.
The trip was cool, but things got interesting right before I left Boston. I got to the airport at 4:15 a.m. to check in for my 6 a.m. flight. I was at the kiosk entering my information and it said my flight was canceled. I put my info in like 3 more times to see if I was tripping, I was not! I tried to switch flights but I was unable to because I fly on standby. I had to call my dad and have him put me on another flight. After about 30 minutes he was able to get me on a 7:15 flight to Washington D.C. I would have to wait there till about 4 and catch another flight to Orlando.
When I finally boarded the plane, I was exhausted. I put on my seat belt and fell asleep. When I woke up then plane was completely empty. The flight attendants had to wake me up. I thought it was all a dream, until I looked at my boarding pass and it said Ronald Regan Airport not Orlando International.
As I walked down the aisle, I wondered what the hell am I going to do in DC for 5 hours. I pondered on this as I walked to baggage claim. I don’t know how long I was asleep, but when I got to baggage claim everyone was gone. My bag sat all alone, waiting to roll off with me. I called my dad and let him know I made it. It was 9 a.m. and my flight didn’t leave until 4:30. I had a lot of time to kill.
After I got out my feelings I went through my Rolodex and looked for my D.C. contacts. The first person that came to mind was my guy Nolan. If you don’t know Nolan, he’s low key famous. My boy covers congress for the Los Angeles Times. The night before he scooped me, he attended a White House Gala with some important people. He said he saw Kim Kardashian and was able to get pictures with Emmitt Smith and Adam Silver. I shot him a DM on Instagram and he messaged me back and said he would be at the airport in 20 minutes.
We went back to his spot caught up and played the PS5 a for a little bit. We made reservations for brunch. The only down side was that all the lit brunch spots were booked. We went to a Mexican restaurant and had some breakfast tacos. They were pretty fire. The whole situation was ass, but I’m glad I have good friends. Nolan said he was just returning the favor. He did come hang with me in Orlando earlier this year.
When I finally got on the plane, it was just like the morning plane ride. I fell asleep before the plane took off. I did wake up right before we landed this time. When I touched down, I had moves to make. I had to get ready for my first day of work and little Marc had school. Marc flew back with my mom, so I had to go get him when I got back.
Once I got back home, I began preparation for the big day. I picked out my clothes, packed a lunch and went to bed early. My lady took Marc to school for my first day. I was able to get there 15 minutes early. The new job is pretty cool.
The company I work for is called Global-5 Communications. We do public relations for the Florida Department of Transportation. My two months of work have been awesome according to my supervisor Gabe. My title is Public Relations Community Outreach Specialist.
My duties include finding events for us to spread information about what the Department of Transportation is doing in community. Also, we maintain their website and handle most of the interactions with the public. It’s your standard office jobs with major perks. I get out of the office at least two days a week to network or do outreach. Our main goal is to let the public know about what’s going on with the roadways. I am on the Interstate 4 (I4) express team. We do business with most of the major roadways in Florida.
This job is going to be my stepping stone into another major gig. My goal is to start doing PR for a musician or for a major sports team. I am a sponge at my job. I take advantage of every opportunity to network and grow as person and as a professional. Also, I started doing PR for a local artist stay tuned.
Remember when my hammy gave out? My car died that same week. The transmission on the Pontiac went out sometime in late March. I been having car issues since 2016. I think I’ve had 5 cars since 2017. I drove my grandpa’s van until I got a new car in early May.
It’s a 2014 Chevy Cruz nothing crazy, but it’s pretty reliable. Except for when the battery started acting stupid. I bought the car on a Monday and I was having issues with it on Saturday, five days later. I was livid! On that Saturday I had my first event for my new job. I set us up at a car show. On top of all this my son and I had a track meet to attend. His mom came to the meet as well.
I had a mini panic attack, but I had no time to sulk. I had to come up with solutions. Coach Richie came and scooped Marc. I had Triple A come and give me a jump so I could get where I needed to be. The event was cool. We just posted up at the table and informed the public about what’s going on with the major roadways in Central Florida.
After the event I was able to get a jump start and get back home. The next day Triple A came to my house and I bought a new battery from the tow truck driver. He installed it in the driveway. I was tight, but I was able to get the situation handled. I didn’t want to spend that money, but I had it so it had to be done. My grandpa’s van had broken down the weekend before and I spent $400 fixing that. The worse part about that was I was at a car dealership looking at cars.
Again, I was tight about spending that money, but at least I had a few dollars saved up for emergencies. Other than that, I been getting ready for football season. I’m going into my second year of coaching for the Orlando Outlaws.
This is our REPO season. We lost last year in the state championship game and we’re coming back with a vengeance. We bringing the smoke next year to. The team we lost to lost a lot of their kids because of age. We lost a few kids as well.
Tough times don’t last tough people do. Last year at this time I was depressed broke and I hated almost everything going on around me. The only positives I had was my son living with at the time, but I was stressful cause I didn’t have a car and I was broke.
My girl and I were getting closer but we didn’t know that casual sex would turn into a full-blown relationship. Also, it was my first-year coaching youth football. Look at how much things can change in a year. I didn’t know how it was going to happen, but I knew great things were coming. It all happened so fast.
My life went through some major wholesale changes in sense March. I’m now a full-time dad, I got a new job, new car, I quit two jobs. So much change mostly good, a little bad, but I’m here for the growth. I’m completely out of my comfort zone, but that’s where the growth is. I only have one source of income right now. It’s cool cause I’m going to turn it into three by September.
