#8 David Burgoz Jr SVBJJ

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Today I have a guest who's not just a friend, but family. I've known David since he was about 10 years old. When he merged into our family. His dad married my cousin. David will always have a special place in my heart. In this episode, we're going to dive deep into David's story from his childhood, the challenges he faced growing up, his introduction to jiu jitsu, and how his family and support system shaped the person he is today. David, welcome to the podcast. It's great to finally sit down and do this with you. Hi, Renee. Thank you for having me. This is something new to me. Yeah. I'm just, ready to dive into your childhood. What was your childhood like growing up with your family? My childhood was like, there was a lot of ups and downs. Growing up as a kid, we moved around from place to place. I was born to parents that were really young, my dad was 20. My mom was 17. Of course, they had their own stuff that they were going through, just being kids themselves. That's still pretty young when you consider having a baby having a kid. It was some good times and bad times. My childhood started off, pretty decent, I would like to say. I lived in Soledad for a good amount of time in my life. I still live there now. We lived in this big yellow house, when I first came. What I remember was we came to this yellow house, my parents and my grandparents and my uncle, we all lived there in the same house. We stayed there for a good amount of time and my biggest memory though, being there was being with my grandparents. My Nana and Tata were the biggest part of my life. There was no way I could ever have gone on without them, but the bigger part was my Uncle Chris, my Tío Chris. That guy was like, he was, I had my dad, and I did, but, he had his problems, he had his troubles and stuff, but my Tío Chris was my everything. When my parents couldn't take care of me, cause either they were working or tired, he'd be the one having me in his bed, feeding me, making sure that I was good. If I was sick, he would take care of me, up until I was like four or five where I could walk and stand, he would take me in his Thunderbird, we'd be riding around town. I'd have my arm out like the window like this, bumping EZ and Tupac. Me as a kid, as a four year old, five year old, I should not be singing Eazy E songs, you know? My childhood starting off was, good, you know, as time went on, I found out that it wasn't that good. It was decent, but it was just because of my grandparents, my Nana and Tata, they really protected us. They really did because my dad, he had his own issues and my mom, she, it was really hard for her to do a lot of the stuff because of, money wise for one, but also to, being in that relationship in the beginning with my dad. My dad was very manipulative and he controlled a lot of stuff. He made it very hard for her to be able to do the stuff that she wanted to do. So it made it hard for us because it was hard for her and she couldn't do the stuff that she wanted to do for us and for her family. Because my dad was the one that held everything. He was always the one that made the money. He was always the one that made all the decisions you know. Just recently, me and my mom, we had this, conversation, where, like me and my wife, we went to go buy furniture for our kids, and, it was a big thing that hit me because my wife wanted a table. It's a table for the dining. We don't have a big apartment, you know, has a decent size area for the table. But my dad, he always told my mom like, oh no, we already have a table, it's like a hand me down one that they got from my uncle or aunt or from my grandparents. Mixed match chairs, there's a lawn chair and then freaking like a regular chair. She never got the table set, and then my dad would always get like these big freaking cars, the brand new Yukons, the brand new expeditions, you know, this frickin thousand two hundred dollar freaking stereo set that I mean, what did it do for us? So I was just talking to her recently about this is like I got my wife the dining room set that she wanted. And it was like my middle finger to my dad saying you know what like I got that for my wife. I invited all over my brothers and my mom over, my wife made fun of me about it, because I invited them all over just to sit at that table, for all of us to be there at that table. It was a big thing for me because It was something like that we couldn't have. I told my mom this and she laughed about, but I told her it was like a big middle finger to my dad. I'm not like you at all. I do have some tendencies and it's the good tendencies that he has and the characteristics that he has. But for that moment it meant a lot to me. Because doing that and seeing like everything that my mom went through. As a kid, you kind of block everything out, because you're trying to protect yourself, but as we get older, we start to remember, and I did, I started to remember a lot of things. You know, And it made me very proud, and made my mom very proud that I was able to do that for my wife. That's great. Tell me about your mom. Her name is Claudia Malgoza, me and her, we had a rough upbringing. I know why now it happened, but at the time it was just because I thought, she was choosing other things over me. Knowing what I know now, but back then it was, tough, because I chose, where the money was and where like the fun stuff was and where they would let me do whatever I wanted. That was with your dad. I was with my dad. Little did I know, that wasn't the best option for me because it was still really hard. My dad made a lot of things hard for me growing up, and he made me think about a lot of things differently about my mom. I was just a kid, you know, and I didn't know any better. It made it very hard. I hate to say this but I hated my mom at one time. I did because the things that I was seeing and the things that I thought were true, even though if they were or weren't I thought they were just because of the things that were put in my head the things that were said and a little bit of what I saw. It made it very difficult for me. Knowing what I know now, it angers me a lot. I keep a lot of anger in that's why I have a very big smile you know because behind that smile I hold a lot of pain. I get through a lot of the shit that happened to me as I was growing up and a lot of that does have to do with my dad. But a lot has to do with the regret of a lot of the shit that happened with my mom. I saw my mom, growing up, from being the woman that, I thought wasn't doing anything for us or anything for me. To now seeing everything that she does now for us. I can't imagine my life without my mom, my mom really opened my eyes to a lot of things. Numerous things that I can never ever thank her enough for and I would never be able to repay her back for any of that stuff that she did for me or my brothers or my kids. It still hits today where I always remember the pain and the fear in her eyes, when we were growing up and my dad was the way he was with her. I still see it today. There was one, the one night in particular where things got really bad, my dad, he was very abusive. I didn't know that, at the time, my uncle, he didn't mean to, but we were talking about it. As he was talking about it, we were just on the phone talking and I remembered, I remembered my dad hitting my mom. I remember my dad making my mom like, fear, because my dad was just a big dude, just telling her like, no, this or no, that, or shut the fuck up this and shut the fuck up that, and, it was, it was scary. There was this one night in particular where, I remember opening the door, because me and my brothers were out there in the living room and my dad got us ready to leave, and my dad was like yelling at my mom and I hear a bunch of shit fucking hitting. I opened the door and I see my dad about to hit my mom with something and my dad tells me to get the fuck out and my mom looks, get out and I'm just, she's trying to protect, you. I'm just, I'm terrified cause I'm only like eight, nine years old, and then I got my little brothers that are fucking, what? Six, five, four, and then Jacob was a newborn and maybe like maybe a year, maybe if that. That's why, like from that moment, I really like I had a, I had like a, I've always had a sense of fear, for like certain altercations or certain things Because of that moment. because of that person. My dad, like he instilled, like his way was he wanted you to fear him. And that's the way that he thought respect was made. Or that's the way that he thought respect was given. And with my mom the way that she brought us up was the love and the respect that you give to others. That's the way that the love and respect is given back. She's always tried to tell us like, you know what, the energy that you put on the universe is the energy that you will get back. You know, and. with my dad God rest his soul but you know anytime I get an opportunity to give him a middle finger about stuff that I do is just because a lot of things that dude fucking did it really hurt. Yeah, it does. It really did. And it really hurt because like my mom, not knowing what my mom had to go through and the way I really like, I had that hate and that animosity towards her, it really breaks my heart because I couldn't do it back then. I couldn't show her the love and the respect and I couldn't protect her back then. Now, it's a whole different ballgame. The dude's dead and that's why, like I call him my dad and I do, but. There's a difference between being a dad and just being a man that helped make you. My dad, I loved him and I did, but there's a big pain in my heart that will always be there because he's gone and questions that were never answered will always be left on the table. My mom and me, we've had a, we've had a hard upbringing and we did, we had a really hard upbringing. But now, like I said, I can't imagine my life without her. She's literally probably, other than my kids and my wife. She's the biggest part of my life. So when your parents split up when you were about how old? Nine. it might have been sooner. It probably was sooner. Because I think I met you when I was like, what, 10? Yeah. 10 elevenish around that time. Let's talk a little bit about your dad. You said you had a very complex, relationship with him and you felt that he, picked on you more than your other brothers. Can you tell me a little bit about that? Yeah, You know, with my dad, we, there was a lot of things that were wrong with him. When I, even like, even though you can hear the anger and the way I talk about him. I don't know what it was about me. I think me and my mom and I think me and you touched on it a little bit about it, but I just, I felt very sorry for him because just like I see, everybody that's here, everybody that's in Koffee Krew, my boy Gabe, that's right there, I think for my own self, I think I'm a pretty good guy. You are. I think I'm fun. I think people like to be around me. Absolutely. You know? For that one person that's supposed to love you more than anything to be the one person that You just want them to accept you for who you are and it's like I can never get that acceptance for whatever fucking reason that one person out of all these other people all these other people to have no knowledge of who the hell I am. Why is it that one person just could not figure out to be there for me or to accept me and to love me for who I am? And it just, to this day, it still does not make sense to me. I put things and I kind of structure in a way to make sense, but yeah, he was very hard on me and he was very different with me than with my brothers. I get it now, as I've grown up and I have my kids, and I have stuff that, you know, goes on in life, and I see other parents and I see other, dads with their sons and stuff like that. And I see my relationship with my son, it's because my dad couldn't get to the point where I was. He couldn't understand why he couldn't be the way I am with my kids. Yeah, he was so flashy with all his cars, with the home, with trips and stuff like that. But at the end of the day, it's like, all that stuff is nice, but what relationship do you have with your kids from the top all the way to the bottom? What do you have with them? We're all here on this earth for whatever amount of time, God gives us. It's up to us to make that time worth it and count. We're all going to be judged one day on the way we treat others and the way we treat, of course, our kids. Our kids should be the biggest part, at least for me and I know for you, our kids are the biggest parts of our lives. I can never imagine ever making them feel anything less than amazing. You're right. And for that one man to make me feel like I was always competing. There is no competition, man. You're supposed to be my dad. You're supposed to be there and fucking help me to get to a certain place. Like dude, my daughter has straight A's. Both my kids are freaking amazing in their sports. These kids go to freaking trips all the time. They have the best clothes, the best shoes. They eat the best foods and What, am I going to be jealous because my childhood wasn't like that? No. It's going to make me proud. Dude, look at all the crap that I'm doing for my kids. Everything that I went through and look at the shit that they never have to even know exists. Yeah. That's a great father. That's why I like when my dad, I could bring up so much different things and I could tell you guys all the little things that he did to me, all the things that he made hard for me. But. It wouldn't speak volume of the man that I am today because just to bash somebody, have it be like I said, I give him the middle finger every time I can because that's just my little thing for my mom to give my mom respect and to give my mom a one up on him. But for him, it's more or less dude, you're gone. We already buried you. You're in the grave. God rest your soul. And I really hope that you learned one day that we were actually pretty great. Yeah. Me and my brothers, we love going to Monterey and the beach, because my dad, he would drive us out there and, the old Crown Vic that he used to have and him, he'd get loaded or drunk or whatever fucking shit that he would be doing. There's one time that me and my brothers is me, Daniel, Gabriel, and Jacob. And I think, no, I don't think Xander was with us because Adele didn't let him go or whatever happened, but we went to the beach right there in Pacific Grove, where the rocks are. Yeah, Alsolimar. Yeah. I love that beach. Yeah. Same. We love going there. It brings us back so much in our childhood because, my dad, whatever he was doing, he told us to go play, go on our own. So me and my brothers were just out there with our bags of chips and our drinks and shit and we're out there playing on the rocks, playing in the sands. My dad's asleep in the freaking car. We're just thinking, oh, he just, he's asleep. It started raining. So like we all huddled up together. Oh shit. Like it's raining, we're just watching the rain hit the water and the waves crashed down and it felt like nothing in the world was wrong. It was just me and my three brothers, it was just us, and it's just like nothing could go wrong at that time. It's like the energy that's put out there in the world through mother nature is crazy, whether it be raining, snowing. Hailing, storm, mother nature can be very beautiful and she can be very dangerous and very deadly as well. And I think the ocean brings so much of that beauty and that destruction all in one. Because you see the water flowing and you see the water crashing. So it's just the same thing. It's beauty, destruction, beauty, destruction. I think that's a big thing that me and my brother we really love the ocean because of that one day, it brought us closer to where we love to be. Where we love to be is not just at the ocean. But we love to be around one another. My dad, him, like acting the way he acted and brought us closer together. Even with my little brother Xander. He's so far away. They live in Texas. But to this day, he just, we always make sure to message him, text him, Hey, how's it going? Yesterday, he texted me about I guess, like, they were down on the street where, they're out there, going around clubbing, he said, but he's not even old enough to go in the clubs. He was just out there and I guess these people stopped him. They asked him, Hey, can we pray for you? And so he gives me this whole long thing where he's just like, you know, it felt amazing D, you know, It was something unexpected but people praying for you like it made me feel like it made me feel good. I just told him man run with it he calls for a reason not just for nothing He's always had a hold on you. It's just up to you pop to run with him or run from him, right? I just told him I love you. That's good. Good Advice from big brother. Yeah, I mean him are pretty damn far in age, But I think with my dad's Bullshit that he had going on It brought us all closer together. Yeah, I can see that. Let's get into, some of the sports you did as a child. Ah, yeah. Basketball was my first love. Basketball was like the only thing in my life at the time that just took me away. Like I would just shoot the basketball for hours at a time. My dad first got us a basketball hoop, me and my brothers would be out there to like almost two or three in the morning. I was very physical with basketball, you know, and I just, the mental state of basketball was I wanted to, how can I say this? I always wanted to be better than the person in front of me. I always tried to figure out how to be better than that person. You know, and uh, Every single day when, I would just watch and that was the crazy thing too when we were growing up, we all didn't really have phones, But we would watch I would watch youtube videos on my pc, right? Yeah. You know Street basketball Like was a big craze back then when I was growing up like in Six, seventh and eighth grade. So seeing all these guys, freaking throw all these crazy moves, it just, it brought us into like throwing up different, um, different spins off the basketball, and swinging it around, and I think the biggest part for me was, it was somewhere for me to feel like I was number one. I remember specifically there was this one competition that we went to, I used to play travel basketball, it was, probably one of the most funnest times of my life, as a kid growing up. There was one specific tournament, I think it was in Sacramento or somewhere out there and like in up north. Xander had gotten something stuck up his nose. He lodged something up his nose. So of course, my stepmom and my dad were worried, cuz he put fucking it was like an Altoid or something like that. Just stuck it up his nose. And so. That runs in our family. Yeah The kids are always doing that. Yeah That's funny. I couldn't make it to my game, I could, I we were just like we were there stuck at the hospital, So my team won the first game. The second game I had went in there and we had just pulled up, I put on my Jersey, put on my shoes, laced them up, ready to go. We were down by like 20 points. Okay. So I'm like, shit, we're down by a lot. So I go in there and I started going at it. My coach puts me in, I started shooting. I started making points. We're down by five. Within that five points, I got like three fouls. I was just aggressive. That's how I was. And they wanted to stop you. Oh yeah. They wanted to stop me. I still remember just like it was yesterday, man. I freaking go up, go straight up for the layup and as I go for the layup guy, whacks me. And I just go, ah, like I go down and it makes it right. We're down by one point. All right, cool. Ready for me to shoot it, make the free throw. Bounce it. I shoot it. I missed the fucking free throw. My boy. I'm not remembering his name, but he got the rebound, threw it out to one of my other friends, grabbed it, threw it out to my coach's son, Marcus, grabbed it, shot it, missed the shot. I grabbed the rebound, kick it out to him one more time. Gets it. Nothing Nice. 22 seconds to go. Okay. As the guys are bringing up the court, I'm handling their best ball player, they're going up, they're going up, I whack the ball, fucking ref calls a foul. Oh no. That's my fourth foul, so I'm just like, damn. Okay, so the guy goes up, makes both free throws, we're down one again. So, it's only like, maybe 14, 15 seconds, okay? I inbound it to my coach's son. My coach's son goes, gives it to me, I'm double teamed. I see the, I can't remember his name, damn. But, I see him wide open. Toss it right to him. There's five, four, it's like a movie three. He just hit, and he wasn't the best shooter, but he just hails it up. Three, two, one. It hit the back. Hit the second and roll the right. Into the basket. Right into the basket and it was, it was crazy because like we just all grabbed them, put them up and stuff. And then it was funny cause we didn't realize how heavy he was when we picked him up and he went backwards and bam. Oh my God, what a celebration. It was. It was probably like, there was a couple other little, things that happened with basketball, but that was probably one of the most memorable ones. That was probably one of the best moments I had. Cause like my dad was there. My grandparents were there, my, my little cousin Brian was there. It was probably like one of the best freaking moments that I had as a basketball player. It was so much fun, you know. I played basketball throughout, like up until my junior year in high school. I left high school early because, because of my daughter. But that's where like my competitive nature came from was because of basketball. Basketball brought like that fire in me. And it's cause of a, it was one specific player, Kobe Bryant. He was like the best, basketball player. He was our Jordan of our era, his fierceness and his toughness and the way he just was ready to attack, attack, attack. That was like the biggest and best thing and just like just the love and the freaking the amazingness that he brought around him. And then it's like when he stepped on the basketball court, he's like no longer friends. Like you're my enemy and that's what I'm gonna take you out. That's a great mindset. I'm glad you have something as a child that really, you know impacted your life and you were able to do a sport that you really loved. Yeah. let's talk about your brothers, your siblings. Ah, let's go through them like one at a time. Give us a little background on them. So my first brother's name is Matt I'm gonna go from the top all the way to the bottom. He's the reason why my work ethic is just hardcore. My work ethic and the person that I am in my job and outside of my job is very on point and in tune with everything around me. It's because of the way he is. That guy has been through some fucking shit, and yet he still has this fucking smile on his face. So funny, but we always make this joke because Matt He was a foster kid, right? And every time I said, we got Matt like he's a fucking puppy, Fucking we got Matt at when he was like 12 years old. Okay, and from 12 years old he just stuck with us, I think he's 30, 36, I believe, I think he's 4 or 5 years older than me, but like him, seeing everything that he was doing, I mirrored what he was doing because it was working for him. He had all these different jobs, you know, and it's like every one of those jobs he treated the same. He's like, I'm here to do one thing and one thing only. And that's make money. And, my older brother, he really put a big impact on my life. he's been there through a lot of stuff that we went through as kids. Every step of the way, through the divorce, through any deaths that we had in the family, through anything that I was going through personally, or my mom and my brothers were going through he just, he's a little bit of a, how can I say this, he's a little bit of an introvert. Like he doesn't like people, but he likes his people. Even like when we go to a restaurant, like he wants to sit in the corner over there around away from everybody. He wants to be around his people, but that's it. That's it. Okay. Your next brother. And then my, um, That's funny, I got a lot of brothers. I know you do. My little brother, Daniel, he's my backup that dude has, ever since we were kids. He's always had my back. Whether it was a good decision or a bad decision. There's this one specific story that I had with him that we used to sneak out at night. And climb through the frickin bedroom window. And we went with our cousin, Tony, and we went to the park and we were just kids, just running around at the park, cause it's late at night and it was cool. A cop put a spotlight on us and was trying to see where we're all like down, like we're fucking army men, just down trying to hide behind the bush. Tony's just like on the, like behind the fricking wooden thing that's right there in the park and we're just like shit. So when the cop. Take the light off of us. We ran and my little brother. He's he's not the he's not the lightest person, you know he look he were a little chunky too and growing up and stuff. So as we're running as fast as we can as fast as we can, he's like back there. And so my cousin was like, shit, Daniel. And so he goes back and runs and he's just pushing, Daniel, come on, Daniel. And Daniel was just like, just leave me behind. I'll be okay. I'll go drinking, where I've been out with friends, and I've gotten drunk, I call Daniel right away. Cause I know right away he'll get my brothers together, and he'll fuckin go get them, and they'll come and get me. He'll be the one to be like, Hey dude, you shouldn't be doing that, but just be careful. Did you have fun though? Yeah, I had fun. That's a great backup. He's the one that I'm closest in age. So me and him, we've just been through everything together. Anything that in our childhood that I went through, he went through. Then my little brother Gabriel, I call him my check. He's working out now. So he's a little bit bigger now, but don't matter. I'll still up his ass. He's the one that will always put us into like reality. D you fucked up You shouldn't have done this. He's the middle child but he don't act like a middle child. You know, he's very calm, very collective. Hey man, like this hasn't worked for you before D, so maybe you shouldn't do it again. And then if I do it again, he'd be like, Hey dude, I told you, I don't know why you fucked up again. If you want to fuck up again, do it again. But like you shouldn't do that. I remember me and my wife had gotten into an argument, he looked at me, he goes, Hey, he goes, did you win the argument? And I'm like. Uh, no, maybe why he goes oh, he goes, you're here. I don't know how you won. You're not home. You're here. He goes, the argument wasn't worth the D, it wasn't worth it. I'm like, yeah, it fucking wasn't worth it. Jacob, that's my baby. He's, it's funny because he's always been the cute one in the family. Like my mom always says she doesn't have any favorites and she doesn't, but if there would be a favorite, it would probably be Jacob. Because Jacob is the baby. Motherfucker's 23 years old, but he's still the baby. My mom put me to the test one time. And, my little brother had asked me, Hey, can you go get the candy for me in the car? Or can I get some of your candy in the car? Yeah, go for it. Threw him the keys. Good to go, right? My little brother Daniel. And then so my mom said, hey Jacob, go ask D for the same thing. And so Jacob comes, hey D, can I get the, can you get the, can I get the candy from the car? Yeah, I got you, Jake. I went to go get it myself and I brought it in. My mom was just shaking her head, did you notice what you did? And I'm like. What'd I do? And he goes, your little brother Daniel asked you for the candy, but you gave him the keys so he can get it himself. But the baby asked you for the candy and you went to go get it for him. And I'm just like, I didn't realize that, I'm like, Jake, go get the fucking candy. He goes, you have it in your hand. And I'm like. Fuck, I'm gonna go put it back. Trying to be fair. Yeah, no, there's no fairness with freaking Jake, man. I'm gonna go from the top to the bottom. Destiny is my little sister. even though we're not blood related, She came into our lives when we were young. She's always been our sister. She's like my pride, I think when, when my grandfather passed away just recently, she was like telling us like all this stuff her and her husband or boyfriend or soon to be husband, we're doing and stuff. And it just brought like a big pride, in my heart, because just. Like I said, everything I've been through, my siblings have been through. She went through a little bit more hectic upbringing, and just knowing and hearing everything that she's gone through and just seeing just how fucking amazing and beautiful that her life is now. I do. That brings such a big pride and joy to my heart. I know Matt's the oldest in age, but I'm the oldest brother because just the way I hold myself. The way I am like they know, like I'm the older brother I'm the one that everybody comes to if they need something. They want advice or something's going on and especially now they have to get into a fight I'm gonna be the first one there. Yeah, but destiny just to see how beautiful her family and life is good, you know, and then her yesterday, she was at Disney, right? I was in a text and I'd be like, lucky, you know, I love, I love Disney. We're like big as Disney fanatics. I think we've been to Disneyland and Disney world, like at least eight times each, at least, or probably more. Probably more. It's not a, it's not a healthy addiction. It's a pretty damn expensive addiction. Um, and Then my baby brother, the last one, he's he's technically my half brother cause he's from half my dad and then half from my step mom, but We don't do all that. He's just, he's my brother, right? He's my biggest worry. It's not so much like I think me and you had touched on it a little bit before. It's not so much like I think anything's gonna happen to him. But it's because I've never had a hold of him, you know with my brothers and a little bit with my sister I've had a hold of them You know, where I was able to grow up with them. I was able to be there for them. With my brothers now, Daniel, Gabriel, and Jacob, and even Matt, they're still there. But with Xander, he grew up away from us. I was so much in age difference of him when I ended up starting a family, I was really young when I started my family, but he was away from me in the beginning and having a kid on my own, maybe even further from us. I worry about him the most. I could call him, but something happens, it's literally like a, what, a four hour plane ride to get there? Recently, when my grandfather passed away, you know, he's so far away from us that he wasn't able to go. Right. I know it hurt him. Because my grandfather did the same thing. My grandfather played a huge part in all of our lives. I understand why he is far away from us, Adele didn't have it easy at all, especially with my dad, and, I think her moving over there was a big part of, she wanted to get away. She wanted to get away from the pain. Dude, nobody wants to fucking remember the shit that she went through. He, out of all of us, he probably had it the worst. He didn't get to have like the good years that my dad had. So there were good years between my dad and us. And there were. But Xander got the bitter end. Shit. Luckee, I honest to God, I can't imagine doing half the shit that kid had to do. I couldn't imagine having my fucking kids do half the shit that kid had to go through. With Xander, it's like he was just so innocent, and for that man to put him through that, it angers me. With my brothers and my family, my biggest thing is if something's going on with one of them, even if I'm not the solution. I want to be at least a part of the process because they mean the world to me. You know, like just recently my mom blessed us with something, because she was blessed with it, and, seeing all my brothers, and they're just like talking about like how they don't think they deserve certain things that my mom were giving us like, dude, like I tried telling them like, Y'all don't understand like my mom has nobody else to give it to you're her kids, She wants y'all to have it. She wants you guys to take it You know, and it's my brothers are over here saying like D we know you we owe you guys this we owe you guys that and I'm my dude The only thing that you guys owe me is The love and the smile on your face. That's it. I remember when Xander came down, you know I wanted to get a hold of him, and talk to him about certain things I had known or I had heard that went on. I remember Xander, like he wasn't listening, and Gabe hit Xander hey, man, he goes He was just let you know dude. He goes like I know we have a dad, but he pointed at me, he goes, that's dad right there, right? He goes, that's the man that we all love and we all respect more than anybody else. And I want to tear up right now because like, for my brother to say that, they see me as their father figure. And it brings so much joy in my heart. Luck, that I was that person for them. That's great, David. Yeah. You're a good man. You're a great father. Thank you. Okay. Your step mom, came into your life when you were about 10 or 11. What was your first impression of her? I thought she was nice. When I first met her, I met her at Chuck E. Cheese. I went with her and destiny. Adele she was very kind at first, and I only say at first because. Back then I didn't know a lot of crap that happened, but now that I do know, I understand why she acted the way she acted. It was cool, I didn't really understand it, because I was a kid, so I didn't know about step parents, step mom, step dad, and stuff like that, it was something new. It was really interesting. I always had a big, I was, it's so funny, but just like my mom, I always had a big dislike of Adele. It again, it was at first, because, Adele, she acted a certain way with us and we didn't like it, because of course work with kids. I think like in my adult years, she told me this one thing, she goes, honestly, David, she goes, I wouldn't want to have a relationship with me after the way I acted with you guys. I told her, it's not how we acted in the past, it's how we act now, and how we are now with one another. I get it, we all make mistakes, but just leave it in the past. It is what it is. You know, and I think, with Adele, I think out of all, with my brothers and my mom, of course, the shit that happened with my mom really pissed me off, but my mom got out. And it may have taken a while for her to get out, but she got out. I think that with Adele. She stuck around for a very long time and she did. My mom was with my dad for roughly around 9, 10 years. Adele was with my dad for almost, I believe it was almost like 14, 15 years. I think I was like 23 when they finally split. And it wasn't even like they finally split, they kept going back to one another. It was a big hurt on my heart because the shit that happened to her should never happen to anybody. Nobody should ever have to endear the shit that she had to endear. That's why I brought up a lot of stuff that Xander had to go through because he had to see all the shit that happened to her. I think I really touched on this, there was a place out there in San Miguel. It's maybe about, I think roughly about what, two and a half hours from here. It's only an hour away from Soledad. There's a little house out there. My dad, for some fucking reason, this dude always wanted to have the best and biggest things. And it made zero sense on a lot of the shit that he had and a lot of shit that he wanted to do, but there's this little house out there. And for me, it's like a fucking horror house. You know, it brings nothing but bad memories. I remember when I was there, there was a lot of crap that. Just hearing the stories that my brothers told me, for my dad being like dead asleep in the fucking hallway, you know, for my brothers just being in the room or my brothers being taken by Adele to go eat pizza down the street because my dad was acting some type of way with them. All that crap that they went through, it's hard to fucking say, but it was nothing compared to the shit that Adele went through. And now, we were just talking about it right now, not too long ago, like we go up against some fucking crazy people in Jiu Jitsu, and we go up against some big dudes, and I feel like I can defend myself pretty damn well, and knowing what I know now, and I couldn't protect my step mom. And then my stepmom, even though yeah dude, she acted a certain way, she was a certain way, but she was still our stepmom. There's a reason why we call her a stepmom, even though my dad and her divorced, that's still my stepmom. That's still, take out the step, and that's still a mom to me. Because, she took a lot of the bullshit from us. And even though she may not notice it, or she may not have known it, she took a lot of that hit, a lot of that hurt, a lot of that pain, a lot of that mental fucking trauma that, that man did to all of us, or could have done to all of us. She took that. And, I still, till this day, I can't believe half the shit that my dad put those two through. Put Adele through, put Xander through. My dad was a literal piece of shit at that moment. I don't want to piss and shit on his grave, but for that, and for what he did to them, that, I will damn him to wherever he needs to go because she didn't deserve that. And with Adele, she is literally risen up from where she was to where she is now. And I just hope everything that happened to her never affects anything that she is now. Because she, now, me and her, we can have a conversation and it's like nothing ever fucking happens. It's like my fucking dad didn't do any of that evil shit to you. Dude, you should hate me and my brothers because we're fucking my dad's offspring. But she holds none of that. She still holds love and compassion now for us. And even to this day, I was, I think I was telling you when we were talking about this, I bet you if I were to call her right now and say, hey, Adele, I'm going through something, you think you could help me get a job? I guarantee you she'd probably be the first one on it trying to get me a job at the prison, trying to get me an office job, trying to do something. Yeah. Because that's just the person that she is. Even after everything that she's been through, that's still the person that she is. Yeah, so that's a, the only thing I could say is I love my stepmom. I love my mom. I love my family. My stepmom, my stepsister, they belong within that circle. And those are my people. Those are my people. That's awesome. Okay. Let's pick up the pace a little bit. Let's do it. Let's talk about, Being a young father. Oh shit. So tell everybody how that happened. I don't know if I can get too R rated into how it happened, but Me and my wife, we, we started really young and I met her when I was like 12, 13 years old, and, We didn't have a lot of guidance, through anything, my, like I told you before my family was going through what they were going through, and I got pushed out, and the only person that like was there for me through anything was her, and, when I found out I was going to be a dad at such a young age, it scared the crap out of me. How old were you? I was when I found out I was 15. But when we had Lacey, I was 16. Lacey was born, December 27th, 2009. You know, and I was barely a freshman going into my sophomore year. Or, no, I was a sophomore going into my junior year when Lacey was born. When I heard that Genesis was pregnant, it scared me. I didn't know what the hell to do. There's this song it's by Kenny Chesney. It's called there goes my life, and it's literally talking about this kid that's just He hears that he's having a kid at such a young age, and there goes his life, And then it fast forwards into seeing this beautiful little girl, and that's his life, you know There goes my life and then to seeing her go off to what he wanted to do in his life that's his life the moment that Lacey was born. My life was changed forever my life That was the moment. I think me and you I said that was the moment I became a man And not just because I had a daughter, but that was the moment that I knew that my whole life would be dedicated to that one person. That moment that I laid my eyes on my daughter. That was the moment that changed my life forever. It was the most beautifulest moment I always call her little thing, cause she just was this little thing that just was crying, you know, just, she was brought into this world, not asked. She was brought into this world by two teenage parents, and now just looking at her and seeing All the beautiful things that she does, it's crazy. It's crazy to see Lacey. Dude, she did not have a fucking, she was not going into a winning record at all. She had two teenage parents, but yet to be this beautiful, amazing 15 year old. Like it's, it still fucking brings, it brings me to like, I don't understand how you could just be so amazing, but yet everything that's been in your life, and from the moment you were born, it should have been hard, but you're just nothing less than fucking perfect. I know everybody always says, their kids are perfect, they're beautiful and stuff like that, and in every parent's eyes, in every parent's heart, that kid is perfect to them. Your child has a perfect place in your heart. Lacey just, she'll always be my, she's my best friend. But Dude, if she's my biggest critic, she's the, she's my biggest hater, put it that way. She's a teenager. So yeah, she's a big hater. What was the biggest challenges of you being a young parent? I think being a young parent, I didn't make all the right decisions, shit, I barely started making right decisions, as I got into being 29 to 31, like I just started making good decisions. I think with being such a young parent, and this goes on to any young parent, the mistakes we make, if you don't learn from them, then the mistakes are just mistakes. When mistakes are made and you learn from them, they're not mistakes anymore, they're called lessons. and lessons are meant to be learned and to grow from. And I made a lot of bad decisions in my teenage years, in my twenties. And, do I regret them? Some of them. But, I learned a lot from them. And now I use that to be able to help my kids. I just told y'all, you know, my daughter has a boyfriend. No father ever is okay with their daughter having a boyfriend. That's right. No mom either. Exactly. No parent. But, it amazes me how she chose such a good kid. And I couldn't pick anybody better for her. This kid's a straight A student, plays on varsity football, and he's respectful. I think the biggest thing, I was thinking about it too as I was driving home, yesterday from dropping off my cousin. You know, about what I would say about my kids. and I think with every single one of my kids, I think the hardest thing now, in today's world, is to raise a good person. It's so hard because you see all this stuff in social media all this stuff on the news It's so many so hard. Yes, They have so many influences that started them in the wrong way but To raise a good person and to see that we're raising good people It's fucking amazing These kids are literally the most respectful, loving, and kind kids that you will ever meet. Have it be they don't listen to their parents, but for everybody else, they're fucking angels. That is awesome. What advice would you give to someone in a similar situation? If I can prevent them, don't have a kid at a young age. It was very hard. It's very rewarding now, but it was tough. And you have a life that you have to take care of. If I could say to anybody that is at a young age and they're just thinking about, Oh, it might change things. It might help us out. It doesn't. It makes things harder. And it does. And it takes a special type of person to get through that. But, if you are going through that, the only thing I could ever say is just show up. Just be there for your kids. No matter if you have one dollar or a million dollars, just be there for them. Doesn't matter if you have a second or an hour. Just be there for them. Show them that you're there. Show up. And just give them your time. One thing in life that we don't have a lot of is we don't have a lot of time. Perfect. Okay. Let's go into a fun area. Let's go into jujitsu, your journey. Oh man. Tell me how you got started. So You said 2017, correct? Yeah, so 2017 was the year that I jumped into it. It was funny, but, I had a friend, his name was Kawika. He was from Hawaii. But, he passed away about maybe two, three years ago and, Oh man, that guy was so amazing. You know, he actually brought me to Kugtar in Salinas. I should probably shout out my gym, but I'm a brown belt under a Richard Fennel out of Salinas Valley MMA powered by Kugtar. We were out there in Soledad, but we just moved to Greenfield. It's a bigger facility and it's really nice. My jujitsu journey started like from the very first moment when Kawika took me to the gym, I just sat in and I just watched it. It was cool. I wanted to get into, but I never got into it. It wasn't until my, my brother in law Angel, he's a brown belt as well with me. And, we, me and him, we bonked heads a lot. We didn't like each other. I don't actually think a lot of my guys at the gym know this, but I started off because Angel started, he started a week before me. And I remember he told me, Hey, I'm starting Jiu Jitsu and I was like, Oh, okay, cool. like I was like, ah, whatever, but they're right. But then in my head, I'm like, Hey, fuck this. I don't want this motherfucker to have the upper hand on me and I'm going to start it too. And it's so funny, but just everybody in my gym, cause he now angel is probably one of the most important people in my life. Just because I do that dude will always have my back no matter what the fuck goes on. It was funny cause. Sorry to go a little back, um, when me and my wife split up for a little bit, he would always be like, bro, I miss you. I miss you, bro. Like, why aren't you here? You should be here at this party. Nice. Can you say he liked you more? Oh yeah. Yeah. My brother in law. cause it's just, it's always just been me and him. And even though like we bonked heads and we didn't like each other at one time. From us trying to kill one another literally led to friendship and brotherhood and respect and we can never change that for anything. Like even now, like I got some hard trading partners, but a lot of my training partners don't know like the way I do things except for angel. So it makes it that much harder because we both know what we like to go after so we know how to defend one Another right? He's literally my main training partner I have a lot of training partners that I consider my main chain partners But he's the one that's been there from the very beginning, and from there, you know we started off at a gym and I probably won't shout out the gym because I don't like that gym at all. It's an actual gym, but I don't really care about that. Okay. But from that building, we moved to our own facility, and every step of the way, even through COVID, like I've been there with my coach, my coach, Richard Fennell, that man does not understand how much he has had an impact on my life. He is probably like a lot of people like to say, like Jiu Jitsu saved their life, Jiu Jitsu did this, Jiu Jitsu did that for them, and it's not so much Jiu Jitsu, but it's the people that bring Jiu Jitsu into your life. That's what changes your life. And the people around me and the people that just every single person that I meet, either a Koffee Krew or at different gyms that I go to, yeah, man, they bring a big impact. My main professor, I don't ever call him professor, I call him my coach, but that man has literally brought me into his life, where his family, his kids, his wife, his cousins, his uncle's, aunts, they consider me family. I've started off as a white belt with coach and I'm a brown belt now with him and it's never gotten easy. It just gets harder and harder. And I think now as I've become a brown belt, I've started to see Jiu Jitsu in a whole different light, and I really love the fact that this sport brings family and so much love. We care about what's happening in our outer lives if somebody's going through something like we'll sit down there and talk to them or we'll be there for them. What was your first jiu jitsu class like? I got my ass beat the first person I ever went up against was his name was David Sotero uh, he had started like with coach Rich way before we had started with him. I went up against him and I, I don't know how the fuck I did this, but I got on mount. I didn't know how to do a freaking arm bar, but I remember seeing it in the UFC. Like I just jumped and hopped and I didn't even have the arm. Like I just jumped and hopped and hit the mat and I got up. That guy freaking like he has a mean side control and I always. Fucking got caught in his side control. And it would be like the most grueling freaking thing. I remember as the day went on like I was just dead like just dead just trying to fight people trying to learn things from people. My first class I think from the first moment that I stepped on that mat to the first moment I got submitted I just was like shit I like this crap. Like what is this? What is this madness? Yeah. What is this craziness? You've been training consistently and Brown belt. What has that journey been like? I think I used to worry about a lot of the stripes and belts and everything with the whole system. One of my buddies, his name's Eddie, Eddie Farfan. I freaking, I remember one time I got so mad because I didn't get like a certain stripe or I wasn't, I felt like I wasn't getting promoted in a certain way and stuff like that. He told me straight up, man, honestly bro, he goes, you shouldn't worry about the belt or the stripe. He goes, you should worry about your progression and your progression only. And what you feel like you are. If you feel like you can go up against anybody and go up against a black belt, then dude, don't worry. He goes, the white belt can beat you. It just depends on the person. I think every belt has taught me something different. When I was a white belt, I didn't know anything. I was just trying to soak up everything as I was a blue belt. I thought I knew everything. I didn't know shit. And as I went into a purple belt, that's when I really started calming down and I really started to analyze and actually take things in. I just told you guys just recently, but, I went to a gym out there in Las Vegas, and, I like there's levels to this crap. And there is, there's levels to this sport. My biggest eye opener was when I went over there, they have browns, they have blues, they have purples, they have whites, they have black belts, everybody. But nobody knew who anybody was because nobody is wearing a gi. Everybody's doing no gi. So unless you're wearing a colored rash guard, don't really know what color belt you are. I was going up against some dude and I was beating him every step of the way, found out he was a brown belt, I'm a purple belt. And then I just fucking got my ass handed to me all of a sudden, dude's a blue belt. Then, I went and sparred with Andy, you know, and freaking, I did not know what the fuck hit me. I was like in awe, but also too, I was just like, I cannot do anything against this person. I think every belt has taught me something different. And now with the, with my brown belt, I just got it maybe about what, a month ago, maybe. And I think the thing that the brown belt teaches you the most, or the thing that brown belt will teach me now is, to really enjoy the process, because I should have started enjoying when I was a white belt, but I worried so much about ranking up that I didn't enjoy it as much. I should have stuck to the moment, and now being a brown belt, I just, I want to be a brown belt for 10 years, because I do not want that black belt. Laughter You've done some super fights. Can you describe walking into a super fight? What it feels like? Oh man. The first super fight that I had was the one, from Daniel Compton. Both me and my boy Gabe were on the card. I didn't realize I was going to have to be like the first one to bop out. I was like, shit. Okay, cool. When they said my name and they like, not from the announcers, but from the back, they said, Hey, David Burgoz, you're going up next against your opponent. I remember the guy was a big shit talker. Like he, I wanted to be him so bad. Like I was just like, dude, this guy fucking, I had a big shit talker up my hands. When they called my name, I had went out there and I was waiting. And I just said, you know what, from the moment I stepped out and I was waiting out there behind the curtain, I just said, you know what, I'm going to have fun with it. So I, and my boy Gabe can contested this. Like I went out there, like I was like, let's do this. Like I hit shit, ready to go. I went out there and I gave my coach a hug, gave my other coach a hug. Master V I went in there and I hit the cage and I was ready. I went in there and it was an out of body experience. I'll tell you one thing. it really like your adrenaline is just pumping. And it's just, that's all it is, just adrenaline. It's straight adrenaline because you go into this mode where everything around you just goes silent. And then you just go in there, it's just you and your opponent. When my opponent walked in, I shook his hand, whatever. We went through the whole match. He had me in a couple good submissions, I had a couple good submissions. And then I think ultimately What happened was, I put my forearm down on his face, and I pushed his hand in, I caught him in a head and arm choke, and he wasn't that tight, but I think what kind of got him was that like my shoulder was like straight into his chin, I felt a couple things pop, and it was the best feeling ever, because when I felt the tap, it was like on my leg, and I was just like, oh shit, the guy tapped, and I freaking got up, I pushed him down, I went up, and I was just so hyped up. I still remember too, like I was hearing this dude from the back, freaking just ahhhhhh, my coach was all hyped up, and it was, like I said, it was an outer body experience. My second super fight didn't go the way I wanted it to. I ended up losing by like points and then the third one there was no contest nobody submitted. But I felt good in every single one of them because in my first one I won by submission and then on the other two I was the only one that had submissions the other guys didn't really go after submissions on me. So they played it safe, and I fucking I did my thing I did the best I could. I have a super fight March 15th I believe. It's against, another brown belt out of, 10th line in San Diego. Okay. And I'm super hyped up about that. Where is it going to be at? It's in Bakersfield. Okay. It's so funny because like me, like I was, like I told you guys, I'm a very big smiler, and this dude's like that, putting his hands up ready to freaking like he's flexing. And I'm just like, David with a big smile, It's not really phasing me. It's just another day in the gym. That's it. Okay. There was another great accomplishment that you wanted to talk about. There was a tournament that you did, a 16 man bracket? Yeah. It was a blue belt and I was, I think I was fighting at one, one 75, one 80 or something like that. And blue belt, I learned that pretty damn quick that in the adult category, I was like 26, 27 and I was like one of the older ones in the bracket. There's all these young fucking kids just ready to freaking chop your head off. It was the first tournament straight out the gate from COVID. I just signed up. It was in Vegas I just said let's do it. I want to go, you know. So I me and my little brother and his friend Rick they jumped in the car with me. So let's do it. We're leaving. We're going and my other two brothers Daniel and Gabriel. They showed up later on. But it was cool. I went in there. My little brother was my coach and he didn't know nothing about jitz. Dude All you gotta do is just hype me up. Just tell me what you see and just tell me D go move. The first match that I had, I caught in a head and arm guillotine. The second match I lost by a heel hook. I didn't really know how to defend them. The third match I won by, Americana and it was so freaking awesome because there were so many fights, but I ended up third place cause I lost one, but the guy I lost to, he lost to the main guy, the guy that won. That was a big accomplishment for me because out of 16 guys, I got third place. And I was big because I barely lost, like I got caught in a heel hook, but it was a good submission to get caught in. With IBJJF and the all stars here with Claudio they don't allow a heel hooks in Nogi, for certain levels. With NAGA, If you're a novice or you're a advanced it doesn't matter if you're a blue belt or up, you can do whatever you want. It was fun, but it really opened my eyes. I felt like I was like in the best shape. I was good. I got down to 180 and that was another crazy thing too. A lot of people don't realize how bad weight cuts are, but I was over three pounds. I think I had to go weigh in like 30 minutes, right? So I jumped in the bathtub. Put my towel over my head, put the bath tub up really hot with Epsom salt and then I put the shower on with all the steam. I only needed three pounds to cut. I accidentally cut 10 pounds. Wow. I know it was a lot. My brother's friend, Rick, he saw me come out and I was like drained. He looked at me like, Oh shit, David, are you okay? And I'm like, yeah, just let's go weigh in. And so I guess I'm fucking food and something to drink. Cause this shit sucks. You overdid it. 10 pounds is a lot to cut. Oh, that's quick. What was the craziest or funniest moment you've had in a tournament When I was a blue belt, I went up in the same tournament in Las Vegas. He's still a buddy of mine, but I went up against, another blue belt and he was out of LA. We were going back and forth that he had me in a triangle. I had him in a omaplata. I had him in an arm bar. He had my back. I took his back and it was like back and forth non stop movement. And like I said before, I was in pretty good shape then. He had won by one advantage, literally just one advantage. And it was just because from the beginning, he swept me. And it was just like one advantage or something. I forgot what the hell it was, but right when the match ended, I think they say paro. The referee said paro, stop. As I was about to get up, I'm like, fuck, man, I almost had it. I almost had the last minute armbar. And as I get up, I just see fucking a pool of, throw up, just go right over my head. And I'm just like, Oh shit. I pulled back and I'm just like, Whoa, I get up and he's just like, shit. I couldn't see his face just shaking. And I'm just like, Oh my God. I'm like, are you okay? He goes. He goes, dude, he goes, your cardio was good, bro, cause fuck, man, he goes, that shit sucked. I'm like, oh man, it's all good, I give him a handshake. And then the ref goes, like, he steps back, and he presses his hands up to X, and I'm just looking, what the fuck do you mean, X, like, I didn't get disqualified, he pointed at him, I'm like, what did he get disqualified for? And he goes, dude, he goes, no, man, he goes, I barely won by an advantage, bro, he goes, You beat me in the cardio game, Dog, because I literally left everything on the mat. That's hilarious. Gross, but hilarious. Yes. Cause that could have been, that could have been catastrophic for my hair. Traumatized. Yeah. I have a beard. So imagine that would have been horrible. Let's talk about your family and your support, which is your wife, your kids, and, talk a little bit about your grandparents. Oh, okay. Oh, also your in laws. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We'll get into all of them. I think like I already said a good amount of stuff about my daughter, Lacey, my daughter Lacey was probably even to this day, she's my best friend. She's the one that like, she's like our pride and joy. All of our kids are our pride and joy, but she's the one that's going to go first. My daughter, my middle child, that one is the one I think me and you, like I told you, that's my heart, like anything that she says or anything that she wants, all she has to do, give me this little puppy lip. So my little bug is Gloria. Gloria Rose Burgoz. That little girl is a psychotic little thing. I think anybody from our gym could be honest with you. She attacks everybody. Wow. We've taught her how to freaking do jiu jitsu. And it was probably the biggest mistake that we've made. That's funny. You have a little killer on your hands. Yeah. She like, she'll jump on anybody, and she's not big. She's smaller than my son. So she's maybe 60 to 70 pounds, maybe on a good day and a good meal. And she just throws her whole body on you. Ah, just like that. And it's so funny because if my son did that, oh, it would not be good. That boy is like a 98, almost a hundred pound little boy. And he's just, he puts his force in you, you're getting pushed back pretty damn easily. My son though, his name is my name. His name is David Joshua Burgoz the third. And, he is so crazy. But like when a dad has daughters. We, gain a heart, we gain like some type of like sympathy to the world because our daughters are like these nice, cuddly, beautiful little things, and they're your daughters, you know, they have a wrap around your heart. When it comes to my son, it's like I gained a different type of strength. My son just, he has this hold on me that I cannot explain. My boy, I just want to hold him, just cuddle with him and just tell him, dude, whatever you need, no matter what it is, bro, I got your back. I think that has a lot to do with my dad, what my dad didn't do for me. There's another thing about my son too, he's autistic. He's high functioning though, very high functioning, but I'll say this. My wife is probably the, or if not the biggest, advocate that my son has had, she has fought for everything that boy is. He is so high functioning and he is so amazing in everything that he does. Anybody that meets him, you would never even know unless I told you that he was autistic. My wife has done so much for that little boy. She's fought so hard for everything that little boy has. Just to see the world through my son's eyes is just, it's just like, autism is like, is about acceptance. It's about learning new things and new ways on, dealing with things. You know, I think I always say this, but my son just takes out the bullshit because when he doesn't want to deal with something, he'll just walk away. He's not like us where we're just sit there and take it. He's just nah, I'm out loud noises, like freaking people that just annoy him or something going on or touches or smells or tastes. He's just no. I'm out. Either I get what I want, or it's okay, I'll figure out a way to get it. I think with my son, seeing the world through an autistic child is, it's just so fucking, it's so amazing just seeing the beauty through his eyes, loving on the stuff that he loves on. Focusing on the stuff that he's really good at and then working on the stuff that he's not as good on. It's just, it showed me patience. With a child with autism, It really brings a sense of love and a sense of compassion for others. Because no matter what anybody is going through, it always could be worse. This little thing that's called autism, it never held my son back, has not once held him back. If anything, it's just accelerated who he is. Seeing the world through my son's eyes has showed me that there's so many different ways of this life. There's not one way to do something. There's a million ways to do that one thing. With Jiu Jitsu, it's made me see there's like hundreds of different ways, to do one arm bar, just to do one side control, just to do one mount. There's way more things in life that we can teach ourselves through just a little thing like autism. It's crazy just because of that one thing that my son has going on. It's just brought so much different things in our lives. With my kids, and I know that they'll probably hear this right now, but They're my everything. No matter what my kids want to do in their life I'm always going to be right there with my pom poms in hand. That's right. You have a cheerleader. I have a Dancer. Dancer. That's great. Yeah. So, let's talk about your wife. Ah, man. Genesis and me, that's so funny, but I always make fun of her about this, but she doesn't like me calling her Genesis. I always call her Jen. So Jen and me, we've, we started off really young. We both have, we've grown up a lot. And I could say a lot of things that me and her have done. That me and her have gone through together or apart. But, I really appreciate her. She is the reason why our family is the way it is. She's the reason why we wake up every single morning ready to go. Because her love and her drive is what keeps us all going. She doesn't understand like, how important her role as a mom is to me and to our kids. Shit, even to our dog and our cats. She probably, I hope she knows this and I, cause I've said this before, but she is my Bonnie. She's my Bonnie to my Clyde. She is the person that I will literally fight and go through every single moment and every single way of life. And just somehow we come out of it alive. I don't know how the fuck we did, but we came out of it alive. We didn't get to do a lot of stuff in our childhood. Our parents were going through everything that they were going through and it made it rough. It really did. We leaned on one another, growing up. We're not that far in age. And I was making fun of her about this, but she's 25 for the seventh year in a row. Even though she's only a couple months younger than me. You're not aging her. Yeah, I'm not aging her at all. Trust me. I'm not. She looks way younger than I do. And now as adults, it's cool that we got money. So we actually get to do shit now. That's great. Yeah, we travel a lot. We're going to Vegas in two weeks for my daughter's dance competition. In March, we're going to Stockton, for another dance competition. in April, we're going to Florida. And we just, we love doing a bunch of stuff. Yeah, my wife's my, she's my, that's my best friend. That's my best friend and my worst enemy at some times. I know. I know how that could be. Okay. The last thing that we're going to talk about your in laws. My in law, my father in law's name is Genaro Vargas. And my mother in law's name is Teresa Vargas. They came into my life at a very young age. My mother in law, She accepted me right away. But, just like I said too, though, No dad accepts a boyfriend right away. It's so true. It's so funny, but my father in law is probably the biggest support I've ever had. And that man has literally been there for me through the best of times, through the worst of times, through the hardest things ever. You know, just recently, I lost my grandfather. His name was Ralph Burgoz. I didn't get too much into it about my grandfather, but I remember the first person that stepped up. And was just ready to help out with anything I needed was him. My father in law was the first one ready. And he was like, from the first moment to the last moment. To the moment that we brought my Tata there, to the moment we buried him. My father in law was there every step of the way. And he made sure to know that I was not alone. Just like the same way he's done since I was 15, 16 years old when I first met him. Oh no, sorry. I met him when I was 13. But from being 15, 16 years old when they brought me into their home to live with their daughter that I got pregnant. That's hard for a father and hard for people to do. For a mother as well, and, my father in law just accepted me. He accepted me as his own. He took care of me as his own. He watched over me. He fed me. He clothed me. He made sure that whatever he did was because of the love that he had for both me and his daughter. He didn't just do it because he loved his daughter. He showed me that he also had love and respect for me. My mother in law, she's the strongest person I know. Everything that woman has ever been through, yet she still finds a way to fucking make it work. Make it work, and to make it good. She just recently got a liver transplant. That was a very hard time for our family. We thought we were gonna lose her. I still remember the day that we got the call that my mother in law was getting a liver. My wife looked at us and started tearing and me and my daughter were right there and we're just like, oh shit. Like we thought, like we lost her. You know, and I'm sorry guys, I'm really about to tear up right now because when she said, my wife said that my mom got a liver, like it, it was like, it was my mom that got a liver. When she got that liver, it was like God had given her a second opportunity at life. She preaches and preaches the gospel. She's a very godly woman. But that moment right there was like a big turning point in our family's life You know, it was, it was crazy, but I still remember too, I like, I told my wife, look, I'm going to get you, I'm like, I got food ready for them. I cooked like egg sandwiches for her and her dad. I got all kinds of stuff ready. I said, here, let's go. She went with her mom and with her dad and they shot out, literally down the way here at Palo Alto. It was like, I think it was like a 28 hour frickin surgery. She had dyed on the table. And that's just not the way that Teresa Vargas will go out. I always say this, but there's very few people I fear in this world. I don't even fear a lot of black belts, you know, but. My mother in law is the one person I probably fear the most. That woman is, she is so strong and so powerful in everything that she does from the moment that she went into the operating room to the moment she got out of the hospital. All she's been doing has been fighting. She's been fighting from the first moment she's laid breath on this earth to right now. Pretty sure she's probably fighting with her husband right now. That's funny. Okay, Let's talk about the last two, So, you have a dog and you have a cat Well, we have two cats, but one of them is my daughter's cat, and then the other one is my wife's cat for sure. Because she doesn't like anybody else other than my wife. My dog, That dude is, the thing that brightens up my day. Even if I'm having a shitty day, and everybody's having a shitty day, That dude will come right to the door, shaking his butt, ready, just ready, like just wanting to freaking like just dad, dad's home. His name's Buddy, he's a golden retriever, big ass golden retriever, like 90 something pounds already, he's a fucking big old dude. And, it's funny because I didn't get him right away when he was a baby, me and my wife were split up for a little bit. And, She got him, and I was just like the typical fucking Mexican dad. I was like, oh, I didn't want the dog. I didn't want the dog at all. And now it's I can't imagine my life without that dude. That dude he's probably like the biggest therapy that I have. That's my buddy though. But yeah, he's a. Yeah. That dude's fucking awesome. All right, David. Thank you for coming on the podcast. Thank you Renee. I appreciate it. Maybe you'll come on again. Oh yeah. I'm down. That'd be awesome. Yeah.