Hi ,

It’s Carlos.

It’s 9/11.

Do you remember?

I'll never forget.

I had just finished college.

Months from being a new dad.

I could see the twin towers from the home I grow up in in Brooklyn.

But, here I was…

3,000 miles away.

Tiny 1 bedroom apartment in the middle of the ocean.

Hawaii.

Asleep.

All of a sudden...

My phone is blows up.

One of my best high school buds.

A recent transplant to the islands, too.

He’s still there, actually.

Lucky bastard.

But this morning, lucky was the furthest feeling from our minds.

He called me, crying!

“Yo, did you hear what happened?  They crashed it.  The twin towers.  They crashed it.  My moms works there.  Oh My God, Carlos…. Oh my gawd…. My moms!”

I was like “WTF?”

I could barely comprehend what he was telling me.

No clue what was going on.

As I cleared the crust out my eyes, trying to wake up, and get a bearing of what’s going on…

I’m like, “wait up, wait up, wait up… what?!”

He basically repeats himself.

The emotion overpowering the message.

I was like, “Oh man, was your mom in there?” 

Him: “I dunno, man, but she works there.”

I was at a loss for words.

“Oh shit, man I hope she’s ok.  Lemme call my folks back home to see what’s

going on.”

To put your mind at ease...

His mom didn’t go to work that day.

She was fine.

Thank God.

Lucky after all.

My family was, too.

I mean I know people that knew people that died, but thankfully nobody in my inner circle.

A lot has transpired since 2001.

While there’s been a lot of drama fodder for sure…

Lots of life lessons….

Lots of loss…

Lots of good stuff, too.

Life is anything if not a rollercoaster.

My son graduated college.

My daughter is a dance diva (I think she might go pro like her sister).

I’ve been with the love of my life for at least the last 9 years and thankful af.

I still may not be exactly where I want to be, but I see the path much more clearly.

Learned a lot, but more importantly, doing a lot with those lessons.

The world is shifting ever so quickly, but…

The more things change….

The more important it is for you to focus on what stays the same.

That’s how you stay anchored.

Moored.

Not stuck.

There’s a difference.

One of the most important things you can do is not only stay in touch with your network…

And always try to keep expanding it, but also…

Stay connected to those you truly care about, and who truly care about you.

Science has figured out, for happiness, True friendships are life's best relationships.

Those are people that invest you in with their time, attention and love.

Time, those most precious thing we have.

Attention, the currency of the internet.

Love… for your worthy collaborators.

Partners in trust.

Those are the people to do life with.

Stay connected.

The ones to keep out?

Frenemies.

The negative creatures that are either secretly envious…

Covet what you’ve got…

Or like most traditional monster villains like vampires, werewolves and zombies…

They want to turn you into one of them.

Miserable.

Toxic.

Takers.

The non productive.

All they want to do is drag others down with them.

Keep in touch with your good friends, the uplifters.

Stay away from the toxic.

Keep expanding the 1st and filter out the 2nd. 

As you get older, I see this becoming more and more of a problem....

Connectedness is hard.

Friendship is not taught.

It’s learned, earned and nurtured.

As you get older, making new connections can be hard.

Some don’t see a way forward, so they opt out.

I don't think that’s the answer…

But that’s just one person’s opinion.

Anyways, this thing is getting ungodly long.

At the end of it all, I just want you to know…

If you and I have ever exchanged value…

I appreciate you.

If we’ve helped support each other in some way…

Thank you, friend.

Never forget.

Carlos “Remembering 9/11 with feelz” Rosario

Weapons Grade Rainmaker

→ Click here to see 10 effortless campaigns you can use to make your register ring w/o you doing much of anything. 

Cha-ching

P.S. I saw this 1 minute clip about mental health that got like 9,000+ comments.

It hit a nerve and actually was the partial inspiration for this post. I think it's worth checking out.

Also read the comments.

→ click here to check it out