I want to thank everyone who's taken the time to read my blog posts on this site. I also want to inform everyone I will no longer be copying my posts to TypePad. Instead, you can find my writing on my WordPress site. You can also keep up with me on Random Writers or by visiting my About.Me page. Thank you once again. Continue reading

There we were, standing in the bed of a stranger’s pickup truck, staring at a plume of smoke that reached up to the heavens. We stood there in silence and waited. We counted silently to ourselves. “Any second now,” we said softly. Any second now I repeated to myself in my mind. Then we heard it. It was a roar unlike anything I’d heard before. It vanquished the silence. It shook the earth. It rattled my soul. It was an experience full of sound and fury, and it signified everything! Last week, Lee and I ventured to Florida’s Space Coast... Continue reading

I can't believe it's been nearly seven years since my father passed. Although I get to celebrate this special day with my kids, Father's Day has seemed a bit hollow for me since I lost my dad, my hero, and my friend. Below is a reposting of the eulogy I wrote for him. You can find the original posting here. *********************************************************************************** We are gathered here today to mourn the passing of my father, John Robert Gonzalez. I like to think that we are not only here to grieve, but also to celebrate the life of a man many people knew... Continue reading

One thousand eight hundred twenty five days (give or take). That’s how long it’s been since my life changed, since my world changed. I’ve recently been thinking a lot about family and what family means to me. As those who know me will tell you, my world begins and ends with my kids. My son and daughter are my everything. They are my North. They are my constant. I am who I am because of them. I live the life that I do for them. Beyond my children, I have a loving, giving, and exceptionally fulfilling relationship with my wife.... Continue reading

I am a diehard sports fan. I love sports. Watching, coaching, partaking; I can’t get enough of sports (with the exception of Cricket. I just refuse to get into that at all.) Specifically, I get crazy about the teams from my hometown. So with the Miami Heat reaching the NBA Finals, instead of being 100% consumed with joy, I’m actually a little saddened. My good friend Matt is a diehard sports fan. He loves sports. Watching, critiquing, …..er, watching; he can’t get enough of sports. (I actually think he would get into Cricket). Specifically, Matt is crazy about the teams... Continue reading

If there’s one word I really hate it’s ‘facade'. The word itself and the slyness with which it’s usually said conjure up images of movie sets for old westerns. You know the ones. The buildings are merely planks of plywood painted to look like actual structures; thin 2x4’s the only thing keeping them up in the back. Facade. I bet your reading of the word makes you think of someone whom you feel is fake. Someone who is not anything close to genuine. Someone who tries their best to make you think they’re someone they’re not. We live in a... Continue reading

It’s a daily struggle for me to get into gear. The blessing that is working from home has a flip side, a side that is weighted down by sluggishness and complacency. I thoroughly enjoy not having to commute into work, but I also have to fight myself to ‘get going’ in the mornings and get the ball rolling. Sometimes inspiration - not to mention the crack of the boss’ whip - comes soon after 8:00 AM. Other times I feel like I don’t get out of second gear until well past 10:00. Still, there is no rhyme or reason as... Continue reading

I was asked by a friend of mine in Miami to help spread the word regarding a missing 17 year-old from Miami. Nicole Marie Dones was last seen on April 18, 2011, and she's believed to be in the company of her boyfriend Jackson Powell. Please see the attached flyers for more information, and contact Detective A. Mancha of the Miami Dade Police Department (305-418-7201) should you have information regarding Nicole's disappearance. News report from NBC Miami Continue reading

My kids are coming off their Spring Break and it got me to thinking about the wonderful childhood memories I have from when I was out of school. Those days were glorious. I’d wake up, watch back-to-back episodes of ‘Family Ties’, and my mom would make me her world famous (i.e. the world inside my head) egg and cheese sandwich (two of them, actually). Then ‘The Price is Right’ would come on and I’d be mesmerized by my mom’s ability to know the price of EVERYTHING! One of my favorite TPIR games was always Plinko. I would be so consumed... Continue reading

Hi. My name is Gil … and I am apparently very late to this party. Call me clueless, call me out of touch, call me addicted to the 80’s on 8 channel on my Sirius satellite radio; but I had never, until this evening, heard the Bruno Mars song ‘Grenade’. I stumbled across it as a result of following Chris Rock’s twitter feed. The famed comedian had a post about the song. I thought the tweet was in reference to Mars' song “Just The Way You Are”. My wife, who is light-years more in touch with what’s cool and popular... Continue reading

The following blog post is from my dear friend Lindsey Goodall. For Valentine's Day, I invited several fellow bloggers to come together and guest blog on each other's sites. I hope you take a moment to check out Lindsey's other posts and follow her on Twitter as well. Enjoy. --------------------------------------------------------------------- For year’s I have been reading this blog and am so honored to have the opportunity to guest post here today! Always so moved and inspired by Gil’s writing, it would have never even occurred to me that I would be working on a piece to submit to be featured... Continue reading

There’s a line in one of my favorite Billy Joel songs, “Angry Young Man”, that reads “it’s a comfort to know his intentions are good.” That is where I am going to start regarding my opinion of the recent Groupon/Super Bowl ad controversy and Andrew Mason. If you haven’t seen it or are unaware of the issue, deal-of-the-day website Groupon ran a series of ads that many viewers found offensive. The reason for the negative response is because the ads appear to mock serious social issues. In response to the public outcry, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason posted a blog explaining... Continue reading

As I sat down to right this last blog for the month, my mind was inundated with alliteration. My mind was on the month of February, and all I could think about was words that begin with the letter ‘F’. Yes, that includes the ever versatile, never dull to say F-bomb. So, in honor of the lovely month of February, here is a list of choice F-words that will hopefully recap the month that was, as well as set the tone for the month that will be. Finish: I mentioned last night I would most likely not be posting blogs... Continue reading

I’m back to writing following a brief hiatus. Camping with my son on Friday night prevented me from writing and publishing a post that evening. Sharing in dinner, laughter, and community with dear friends (not to mention a couple of bottles of wine and some Scotch) precluded my writing routine last night. So now that I had “the weekend off”, I’m here to write the second to last post of the month, and perhaps the last routine post for a while (you’ll have to tune in to Monday night’s post for details). You’ve seen me write about my kids and... Continue reading

The dictionary defines the word ‘vocation’ as a particular occupation, business, or profession; calling. It can also be defined as a function or station in life to which one is called by God. Growing up Catholic, I heard this word a lot when I was in school. I think it was the Catholic Church’s not-so-subtle way of trying to recruit boys into becoming priests. “Normal people have careers, but those true to God know what their vocation is,” I recall Sister Mary Somethingorother telling me once. The way I figure it, if God wanted me to become a priest, He... Continue reading

I walked a mile with Pleasure She chatted all the way But left me none the wiser For all she had to say I walked a mile with Sorrow And ne'er a word said she But, oh! The things I learned from her When sorrow walked with me -by Robert Browning Hamilton Continue reading

Today’s topic is supposed to be about something that was planned that did not turn out as expected. I don’t think I can do a better job than the one Lee did with her post tonight. Also, I’m not feeling that topic because I have something else weighing on my mind. In the past year, I’ve had too many friends grieve the loss of a parent. I’ve also had another grieve the loss of a sibling. This sad and unfortunate trend continued this week as someone close to me lost his mother. It also pains me to say I have... Continue reading

Remember that song my Naughty by Nature called “You down with OCD”. Wait, what? That’s not what it’s called? That’s not what they were down with? Well, in my version it’s definitely OCD. I don’t suffer from OCD, I relish in it. I embrace it. Being married to someone who lives - how shall I say this? - on the other end of the spectrum in terms of my comfort zone for order and tidiness can be a challenge. I guess that’s part of being in a relationship; being able to meet halfway. But if it were strictly up to... Continue reading

In the wake of posting some pretty deep and dark entries about specific events in my life, it’s with open arms that I embrace tonight’s writing topic. The subject of tonight’s entry is a truly spiritual moment in my life. I thought long and hard about this. I tried to recall a ‘eureka’ moment with God, one that set me on a new path of growth and spiritual happiness. However, the more I searched for that moment, the more I realized there wasn’t one. Well, not just one. Instead, what I found was a series of moments in my life,... Continue reading

I guess one of the problems with undertaking a writing challenge like ours is the inadvertent covering of future topics. Tonight’s subject is “A dark or turbulent moment in your life.” Well, it goes without saying I’ve already written about that. So instead, I am going to write about a dark moment in someone else’s life. Actually, I jest. This is more like an enlightening moment in someone else’s life. My friend Matt has lived most of his adult life in fear. He was afraid of the unknown. He was terrified to take on this undertaking, even at the suggestion... Continue reading

Sometimes things in life can be both easy and hard. There are challenges we face, people we know, or situations to resolve that have aspects that are both worrisome and trouble free. This entry is an example of that. As part of my wife and I’s 30 Day Blog Challenge, the blog assignment for this evening is to write about your best friend (that is not a spouse or significant other). This is where the easy and hard part comes in. As I’ve said before, I’ve been blessed to have an incredible circle of friends that have supported me and... Continue reading

I am a huge sports fan. Even more so, I am a huge Miami Dolphins fan. I grew up on the Dolphins. The golden era of Shula, Griese, and the Orange Bowl. The arrival of Dan Marino and the Marks Brothers. The heartbreaking losses in Super Bowls XVII and XIX. Those are all part of my childhood and the bedrock that makes me the fan I am today. Alas to say dealing with heartbreak is part of being a Dolphins fan. Their last Super Bowl victory came a month before my first birthday. They haven’t been to the big game... Continue reading

I don’t believe in random. I mean I do, but I don’t. Lotto balls are random. The way a snowflake falls from the sky is random. The things that come out of my nine year-old’s mouth are random. But life and our interactions with others are never random. That being said, I met Cate Colgan through the most random of circumstances. At the time, I had no idea what a Tweetup was. Nevertheless, Lee and I trekked down to the Performing Arts Center in downtown Tampa for a Tampa Bloggers Tweetup. I blogged and I lived in Tampa, but I... Continue reading

This blog post is a day late. The Day 17 topic of our 30 Day Writing Challenge is ‘Someone with whom you shared a friendship/relationship that simply drifted out of your life.’ As you’ll soon see, there is a reason I was not able to get this posted on Monday night. The person that fits the subject of this post, let’s call her Mirabelle, is someone I met back in 2004. She was one of the first new people I met after my first marriage ended, and we quickly hit it off. I maintained a relationship with her through about... Continue reading