{"id":189,"date":"2026-06-03T06:34:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jessetmills.me\/?page_id=189"},"modified":"2026-06-03T06:42:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:42:39","slug":"my-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jessetmills.me\/index.php\/my-story\/","title":{"rendered":"My Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"189\" class=\"elementor elementor-189\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8e5ec99 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"8e5ec99\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-600b613 elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"600b613\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<style>\r\n.story-body {\r\n  background: rgba(0,0,0,0.75);\r\n  padding: 30px;\r\n  border-left: 2px solid #C9A84C;\r\n}\r\n@import url('https:\/\/fonts.googleapis.com\/css2?family=Cinzel+Decorative:wght@400;700&family=Crimson+Pro:ital,wght@0,300;0,400;1,300&family=Space+Mono&display=swap');\r\n\r\n.story-wrap {\r\n  color: #e8e2d9;\r\n  font-family: 'Crimson Pro', serif;\r\n  max-width: 720px;\r\n  margin: 0 auto;\r\n  padding: 120px 30px 80px;\r\n}\r\n\r\n.story-rule {\r\n  width: 60px;\r\n  height: 2px;\r\n  background: #C9A84C;\r\n  margin: 0 auto 40px;\r\n}\r\n\r\n.story-heading {\r\n  font-family: 'Cinzel Decorative', serif;\r\n  color: #C9A84C;\r\n  font-size: clamp(1.4rem, 4vw, 2rem);\r\n  text-align: center;\r\n  letter-spacing: 0.08em;\r\n  margin: 0 0 12px;\r\n}\r\n\r\n.story-label {\r\n  font-family: 'Space Mono', monospace;\r\n  font-size: 0.7rem;\r\n  letter-spacing: 0.15em;\r\n  color: #C9A84C;\r\n  text-align: center;\r\n  display: block;\r\n  margin-bottom: 40px;\r\n}\r\n\r\n.story-body p {\r\n  font-size: 1.15rem;\r\n  line-height: 1.85;\r\n  margin-bottom: 1.6em;\r\n  color: #e8e2d9;\r\n}\r\n\r\n.story-body p.lead {\r\n  font-size: 1.35rem;\r\n  font-style: italic;\r\n  color: #e8e2d9;\r\n  border-left: 2px solid #C9A84C;\r\n  padding-left: 20px;\r\n  margin-bottom: 2em;\r\n}\r\n\r\n.story-body p.closing {\r\n  font-family: 'Cinzel Decorative', serif;\r\n  font-size: 1rem;\r\n  color: #C9A84C;\r\n  text-align: center;\r\n  margin-top: 3em;\r\n  letter-spacing: 0.05em;\r\n}\r\n\r\n.story-divider {\r\n  width: 40px;\r\n  height: 1px;\r\n  background: #C9A84C;\r\n  margin: 2.5em auto;\r\n}\r\n<\/style>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"story-wrap\">\r\n  <div class=\"story-rule\"><\/div>\r\n  <h1 class=\"story-heading\">My Story<\/h1>\r\n  <span class=\"story-label\">\/\/ THE LONG ROAD<\/span>\r\n\r\n  <div class=\"story-body\">\r\n    <p class=\"lead\">When you're young, 50 sounds like the end of the road. Now that I'm here, it feels like my story is just beginning \u2014 and I'm more excited than I have been in a long time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n    <p>I've been searching my whole life. For work. For family. For God. Always reaching for something just past where I was standing. I didn't understand that about myself for a long time. Now I think it might be the most important thing about me.<\/p>\r\n\r\n    <p>I grew up the oldest of three boys raised by a single mother who worked constantly because she had to. We raised ourselves, mostly. There was no father in the picture. I don't say that for sympathy \u2014 it just is what it is. But somewhere in that house, in that absence, I built a vision. A home with a wife, 12 children \u2014 so I could be the father I never had.<\/p>\r\n\r\n    <p>I spent years searching for God across continents. Turns out all those roads just kept proving He was already with me. Had been the whole time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n    <div class=\"story-divider\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n    <p>I built the family I always wanted \u2014 or half of it. I dreamed of twelve children. I got six. Twenty years. I provided \u2014 worked hard, kept the lights on, did what needed doing. But somewhere in all that providing I became the thing I was trying not to be. I was in the house. I just wasn't present in it. I didn't see it until I was forced to stop.<\/p>\r\n\r\n    <p>The accident changed everything. Housebound at 50, more time to think than I've ever had \u2014 and nowhere to run from what I finally had to see clearly. Twenty years living for someone who only needed me for what I earned.<\/p>\r\n\r\n    <p>I'm not bitter. I'm clear.<\/p>\r\n\r\n    <div class=\"story-divider\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n    <p>My kids don't really know who I am yet. That's what this is for. This website. The sanctuary I dream of building in Arizona. All of it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n    <p>I want to build something my children can stand on. A place where presence and provision are finally the same thing \u2014 where the work is being there. Something we build together. A legacy that says: I was here. And I did this for you.<\/p>\r\n\r\n    <p>The ADHD brain doesn't do straight lines. Never has. But I'm starting to think every road I took was exactly the right one \u2014 just not for the reasons I thought at the time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n    <p class=\"closing\">I'm still searching. I think I always will be.<br>The difference now is I know what I'm walking toward.<\/p>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My Story \/\/ THE LONG ROAD When you&#8217;re young, 50 sounds like the end of the road. Now that I&#8217;m [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-189","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jessetmills.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jessetmills.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jessetmills.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jessetmills.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jessetmills.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/jessetmills.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209,"href":"https:\/\/jessetmills.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/189\/revisions\/209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jessetmills.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}