A Father’s Day reflection on men’s mental health, healing, and breaking patterns Gentle Note: This reflection speaks about Father’s Day, men’s mental health, healing, and the impact of abuse. Please read with care and honor what you need emotionally. Father’s Day can be beautiful for many people. For others, it can be complicated. It can bring up love, gratitude, grief, absence, disappointment, and pain. For me, speaking about fatherhood is not always easy. I did not grow up with the safest...

After 23 and a half years of federal service, I have seen many changes. I have served through transitions, leadership changes, reorganizations, new priorities, and difficult seasons. I understand that change is part of public service. But I have never seen anything like this. This season feels different. Heavier. More personal. More painful. At the beginning of this year, I wrote about the changes I was seeing across federal service. And yes, I saw the signs. I saw the uncertainty. I saw the...

I came to this country as a child — too young to fully understand everything I was leaving behind. I did not know the language. I only knew the world that had shaped me: my culture, my family, my home in Ecuador, and the rhythms of a childhood that already lived deep within me. Then, suddenly, everything changed. I was no longer waking up to the sound of the 5 a.m. rooster. No longer waking up to my grandmother’s café con leche and bolón. No longer breathing in mornings that smelled fresh and...