Uncategorized

Full of gratitude.

Just wanted to take a minute to thank each and every one of you who have been an influence and inspiration to get where we are today.

To Vera, Kendall, Brianna, Adam, Kevin, and so many more – for being some of the first phone calls and conversations to remind me that there is a light at the end of it all (even if we hadn’t caught up in a while), and to keep striving to live the good life and let blessings come when they’re supposed to. We have all crossed paths in very unique ways as our lives go on, and I hope we continue to make the most of any time together we can in the future.

To Matt, John, Brett, Laura, Brian, Sam, and others – for being the shoulders to lean on when I needed to vent, for being the beacons of honesty to hold me accountable and help prove to myself that I am capable of overcoming any obstacle being thrown my way. Hard conversations were had, and they served an incredible purpose to remind each of us why we are here and what we are meant to pursue.

To Jared, Charlie, Jesse, Kevin, Matt, Reed, Jay, and all the new friends that were made along the way as part of the healing process – your friendships and time spent are treasured by me more than you can possibly imagine. Some of the most lonely of nights and weekends were quickly changed around by random texts to go on adventures and jumpstart that switch in me that needed to be brought back to life.

To Abbot Placid, Jen, Cory, Noah, Whitney, Thom, Randy, Lino, and all those who had their own special ways of keeping my faith as strong as ever, and finding amazing opportunities for it to grow even in circumstances that were less than ideal. The benefit of the one true faith being universal is that I have always felt right at home no matter where I ended up going for Mass, praise and worship, adoration, or simply a strong message on the radio as I finished my long drive home from work.

To my family – for never stopping believing in me, for always being just a call away (even if I was living an entire day’s drive away), and always keeping me in thought and prayer as I trudged through the chaos of the last few years. Words cannot properly express how much you all mean to me, and I hope you know that. It means the world to be living close to everyone again, especially as our big family continues to get even bigger.

Most of all, to Chelsea – for being an absolute rock for me to depend on when I needed it the most, for being someone whose love I never thought I was deserving of, for being the perfect piece to my bizarre puzzle of life to make it complete. A week and a half later, I still can’t believe that I found my very own Disney princess to love and cherish for the rest of my life.

2020 may have tried to get in everyone’s way with what plans had been made, but I couldn’t be happier with how we were able to stick it do COVID-19 and still pull off the unthinkable – a perfect wedding on 7/11. It ended up being a day where the thought of a pandemic was the last thing on people’s minds, and it was an incredible celebration of friendship, family, and sacrament that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. To everyone who made it possible – I can’t thank you enough, and look forward to the opportunities ahead to return the favor tenfold.

Uncategorized

Home

  • February 26, 2019February 26, 2019
  • by Ben Torres

People love to ask the question… where is home these days? Where do you call home? We seem to develop the notion that one’s home defines a lot more about the person than what ends up being the case. “Oh, so you’re a Yankee…” “Oh, so you’re from the South…”

Will everyone stop and admit that 95% of the stereotypes that we try to associate with these hometowns are absolute nonsense? I can say without a doubt that there are THOUSANDS of people from the “Bible Belt” who tend to be downright crude and inhospitable, just as there are THOUSANDS of people from the North who actually have souls and give a crap about others and their well-being.

Don’t let where you were born or raised define you – this isn’t the early 20th century, and even the grandparents that are still walking among us seem to have embraced change when you ask them. Whenever I get asked these questions, so those unfamiliar with my background can find a way to put Ben in their own “boxes of understanding”… I simply start telling my story, whether they like it or not.

I was born in Flint, Michigan. Yes, that Flint – the town devastated by tragedy that our corrupt political system chooses to make their playing card as it suits them, only to abandon its residents at the end of a campaign instead of actually helping them. My mother was working as an electrical engineer for General Motors at the time – because after all, that was the definition of a successful person who had graduated from college in the Midwest in the 80’s.

My early years were then spent in the Ohio Valley – the Ohio side of the West Virginia panhandle, to be more precise. I started working at the ripe age of 9, taking on a paper route to make enough money to buy my own bike – and even chip in on an actual piano once my skill set was developed enough to graduate from a small keyboard. My mom’s extended family and friends raised me in the tradition of Pittsburgh sports (after all, it was the closest big city), and my claim to that fandom still seems to haunt several of my friends from other parts of the world to this very day.

The family moved to North Carolina when I was in middle school… and I learned the hard way about starting over with friends and life in the midst of puberty. Though NC has now been my place of residence for longer than any other state (not to mention where I went to college and launched my professional career)… it is hard to imagine me saying that this one place alone constitutes my “home”. After all, the last 4 years of my life were spent downing queso in Austin and taking in late nights on the water in Boston – complete opposite environments from anything I had ever known up to this point.

At the end of it all… I just hope that you strive to let your personality, accomplishments, desires, and dreams define who you are – not where you have your mail sent to. As you will find out, the more you explore and the more you converse – you have a lot more in common with the person across the table from you, no matter what impression may have led you otherwise.