Latest / YOUR AVERAGE DELTON / Episode 1: Introduction of Your Average Delton
Transcript
- Your Average Delton: Hey guys, welcome to the very first episode of a conversation with your average Delton. You guessed it. I'm your average Delton. ⁓ 30 years, ⁓ of six, ⁓ dad of two, ⁓ poppy of 13. I'm 67 years old. ⁓ when I say average, I don't mean ordinary. ⁓ mean real, I mean a life built step by step, sometimes by design. ⁓ sometimes by accident. And today I want to share my journey. I want to share how I got here. But first, I've got to acknowledge what's behind me. I said, husband of 30 years, we just hit 30 years of marriage today. And I thought, we're starting a podcast. I want to start a podcast. I have some things to say. I have some conversations I want to have. And I thought, you know what, it's just too beautiful an atmosphere to pass it up. We're not ready for it. But you know what? Sometimes you don't have to be completely ready. You have to start. So today, I'm starting. I'm sharing my journey with you. Where it began, how it shaped me, how my life began, where my perspectives come from. I grew up in Lubbock, Texas on the East Side. Now, why is the East Side relevant? We largely were separated by ethnicity. I guess that was a building block of perspective. And then in the ninth grade, I started busing, passing every school that I would go to. Another brilliant idea in theory. I'm sure it taught me something. I'll come back to that in much later episodes. Now I don't remember discussions ⁓ growing up about what do you want to be when you grow up? Where do you want to go? It was just get a job. You need to go do something. And I grew up in my neighborhood knowing more about what I didn't want to do. I got to see that every day than what I wanted to do. Now, all of a sudden I'm on my first job. Twelve years old, began to push a lawnmower. Through the streets of East Lubbock with a gas can on top every day for two summers. I exceled. At lawn maintenance. I'm walking through the streets with Robert Galtman. He Why'd you change the name? Now he rests in peace, by the way. And I said, I needed to make it sexy. Off to high school then. Now I've had some unrecognized successes in high school. President of the choir, president of the rotary club, president of the drama club, even president of the student body. And for some reason, this still didn't point me in a direction to where I thought these skills were something I could transfer. I graduated high school. In 1977, that same year, I became a father. And now the real responsibilities kick in. I'm trying to move forward, figure things out, build something stable because there are real responsibilities on me. Work became the focus of the day for me. First at a hospital, then at fast food. Not because this had become my dream, but because it was there. And I knew I could outwork most people. And you know, sometimes what's there without you thinking about it can become your path. Yeah, of course you hear get an education, learn a skill, a career path. Well sometime a career chooses you. I started at McDonalds and within two weeks I was promoted. To a shift manager. I actually asked, does this happen to everybody? They said, no. People typically don't show up for two weeks straight on time. Now that stuck with me. That starts to shape my thoughts. Work ethic, what it could be. Consistency could separate me. From there, I spent 16 years with Pizza Hut, training manager, promoted to a manager, promoted to Amarola, then to Dallas. Now I knew everything about running a pizza place. Pizza Hut had trained me well. I'm thinking to myself, you know. I need to go out and open my own pizza company. So I stepped out with a friend and we opened Snappy Tomato Pizza Company. You ever heard of it? Apparently neither had anyone else. That one didn't go as plain. I actually had one of my ⁓ co-workers some pizza had called it Snap Lish Tomato. But that's alright, that's another day. But here's the thing: ⁓ Cliches are cliches a reason. Sometimes you don't fail, ⁓ you learn. ⁓ In the middle of learning, then life hits me hard. My mother passed away. I'm divorced, three kids. Worst period of my life. I mean, I'm lost. I called my mom every day with good news, bad news, no news. And I had to ask myself, what are you doing? Now I believe in God. I was baptized as a child, but I wouldn't say I'm a religious person per se. So one afternoon, driving on a Dallas sunny day, a song came on the radio, Why We Sing by Kurt Franklin. And something shifted. I can't explain it. I felt as if God had reached in me and grabbed me and gotten my intention. And here's a snippet of what I heard that really changed me. It goes something like this. For those that don't understand our purpose and may not understand our praise, we as a family, in Jesus' name, would like to tell you the reason why we sing. Somebody asks, why do we sing when we lift our hands to Jesus? What do we really mean? Someone may be wondering when we sing our song, at times we may be crying, and nothing's even wrong. I sing because I'm happy. ⁓ I sing because I'm free. His eye is on the spectrum. You're the reason why. Wow. I can I can still feel that now. That was a turning point. I made a decision. That day, I needed five years of intentional living. What does that mean? No distractions, no relationships, no shenanigans. I needed to go and find myself. I needed to take that time. Now, right around the end of that five years, I reconnected with the young lady who became my bride. So a year later, new baby girl, new job, new chapter. I joined Wendy's as a district manager, then training manager, and then operations specialist in the corporate office in Dublin, Ohio. Now getting to see how corporate America worked from the inside gave me a new perspective on how showing up is the most important thing you can do sometime. Folks, every day did the work that affected so many people. To be a part of that was truly illuminating. Some 700 people working in that office. I got to experience that type of work every day. And then I'm promoted back to the field as a franchise area director. Now moving with purpose. Life is starting to make sense. I even had Time to break 80 regularly. So you know things had to be going pretty well. Then came another brilliant idea. Let's invest into a ham shot. Kind of like honey-baked ham. Another two years of learning. Then I thought, let's step back into something I know: fast food. This time as a Wendy's franchisee, owner of six restaurants, eight years of experience. Eight years of growth. This was the most most important time period because it taught me how to pay attention. And then I asked myself again, here I go again. What's next? We're in a good place. We had decided to build a house. We found a local builder that would build the house we wanted. Now, if you know me, you'd know and you'll get to know me. ⁓ you'll know I'm a little bit of a pain. But that's just the nature of me. I was very involved in the process, asking questions, daily grinding of what's going on, why. this what is this in and I really became interested in construction without even knowing this path was choosing. After such a great experience I thought maybe home building is something I could do. So I said talk with my bride about this and all she could see was the ham shop. But you know when you marry up here's the reply you get let me get my purse. So off we began deal to deal custom homes. We started a custom home company now we're 12 years in business. and our have one simple focus, building homes where quality matters. Guys, this is about life because everything I've been through, every job, every mistake, every regret, every restart is all about building a perspective that says, here's how you can get where you want to go, but you got to do a couple of things. You gotta walk with intention, you gotta show up. Now, guys, I'm sorry for ⁓ it seemed like what a long introduction, but it's really a small portion of my history, and trust me, there's more to come. I wanted to share this to this is where my perspective comes from. No straight path, no blueprint. I've learned through experience, through failure, through faith, ⁓ through showing up. And even when I didn't have it all figured out, I just kept walking in faith, walking in intention. So if you're listening today and you feel like you're behind or lost or like it just hasn't happened for you, you're not alone. Sometimes the path finds you. But it's up for you to continue the walk. I'm your average Delvin, and this is just the beginning of our conversations. Remember this also, guys. Your life is the only sermon some people will ever hear. Make it loud. So guys, I'm gonna leave you with a little bit from my childhood. Goes like this. Looking back on when I was a little nappy-headed boy. Then my only worry is what for Christmas, what's gonna be my toy? Even though we sometimes would not get a thing, we were happy with the joy the day would bring. Sneaking at the back door to hang out with those hooplum friends of mine. Greeting at the back door, boy, I told you not to go outside. Trying your best to bring the water to your eyes. Thinking it may stop her from whooping you're behind. I wish those days could come back once more. What did those days have? Better have to go because I love them so. Hey guys, this is your average double. Ow.