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It's been over a month since I started my parasite purge program, and I wanted to share how the process has been going. In my previous post, I talked about working with Marissa Lord from Good Lord Wellness and beginning Phase 1, which the program calls the drainage phase. Since then, I've completed my first round of Phase 2 and am now back in Phase 1, preparing for another round. There have been some challenges, a few unexpected moments, and changes in how I've been feeling.

About five years ago, I would see Sulphur butterflies randomly in my garden, but not very often. A friend of mine also has a butterfly garden, and she started posting pictures of Sulfurs visiting hers. She had different plants than I did, which made me curious about what was attracting them to her garden but not mine. That curiosity is a big part of how my butterfly garden has grown over the years. I have learned that if you want to attract a certain butterfly, you have to un

Live music has been part of my life for fifty years. It started when I was young, singing and listening to music at Christmas, at church, or in the park. By my teens, I knew the bands and started going to concerts myself. My first concert was Strafe at Six Flags Atlantis in 1988. I was in seventh grade and went with a friend. The crowd was lit, the music was pumping, and I thought it was awesome. I didn't know then how many concerts I would end up going to over the years or h

Growing up on the New River in Fort Lauderdale, we had neighbors across the street named Doc and Betty Burrows. Their property was called Little Florida, and for much of my childhood, their house felt like an extension of my own. I am the last of a large family, and I didn't really get the chance to know my grandparents before they passed away. Doc and Betty filled some of that space for me. They were like grandparents who happened to live next door. They were snowbirds and s

I became a stockbroker and financial advisor twenty-six years ago. At the time, I was looking to get rich and be successful like many other people. The dot-com boom was making people millionaires, and there were stories of people picking stocks with a dartboard and making money. It was a very different time in the financial industry. When I started as a financial advisor, we would give clients a questionnaire to determine their risk tolerance. After that, the computer would p

Turning 50 has made me think about my health differently. I want the energy to travel, spend time with my family and friends, stay active, and keep doing the things I enjoy for as long as I can. Lately, though, I've been feeling more tired than I would like and haven't had the motivation I used to. I've been walking more, jumping rope, stretching, and paying closer attention to what I eat, but I also felt ready to explore something new. That's what eventually led me to Mariss

There is a difference between planting a garden because you want something beautiful to look at and planting one because you want something to live in. It took me a while to understand that. When I first became interested in butterfly gardening, I was naturally drawn to the butterflies themselves. But the more I learned, the more I realized that attracting them was only part of the equation. If I wanted them to stay, lay eggs, reproduce, and return, I needed to think about wh

Some movies stay with you because of the story. Others because of a character, a scene, or a moment you never quite forget. But sometimes, long after the details begin to fade, I still remember the music. I've always noticed music in movies and television. A great song can completely change the way a scene feels. It can make something more exciting, emotional, unsettling, or unforgettable. There have even been movies over the years that I didn't necessarily love, but the soun

Every night around dinner time, Buddy starts watching me a little more closely. If I'm running late, he'll let me know. First comes the look. Then the waiting. And eventually, the whimper that basically says, Are we planning on eating tonight or what? After almost nine years together, we've gotten pretty good at understanding each other. Buddy is an 85-pound Black Lab mix and has been part of our family since he was a puppy. He's happy, easygoing, strong, occasionally loud, a

I drove a few hours to Miami Beach, waited an hour and a half just to get through the doors, and spent the next three days trying to absorb more information than my brain probably had room for. And I loved almost every minute of it. Consensus 2026 was my first cryptocurrency and digital asset conference. I had started investing in crypto at the beginning of 2025, but my interest went beyond buying and selling coins. I wanted to understand what was actually being built behind

One of the things life has taught me is that the smallest decisions often have the biggest impact. Not overnight. Not even after a month. But over the course of years. When I look back on the habits that have made the greatest difference in my own health and well-being, none of them were complicated. They didn't require expensive equipment, dramatic lifestyle changes, or perfect discipline. They simply became part of my everyday life. And over time, they quietly changed it.I

Certain moments in nature make you stop whatever you're doing. For me, it's watching a Monarch butterfly drift across the yard. They never seem to be in a hurry. They move differently than everything else around them, floating from flower to flower as if they already know exactly where they're going. Every time I see one, I stop for a minute just to watch. I've always loved butterflies, but about ten years ago, they started to mean something different. When we moved into our

When it all started... There are songs we listen to. And then there are songs we can't help but sing. I've always thought those are two completely different things. Listening is passive. Singing is participation. The moment you start singing, the song becomes yours. You aren't just hearing someone else's story anymore. You're borrowing it for a few minutes, adding your own memories, your own emotions, and your own voice. I've been doing that for as long as I can remember. Gro

Paul James "PJ" Metzger Sr. & Minette "Munchy" I've learned that memories rarely come back all at once. They arrive in pieces. Sometimes it's a familiar smell. Sometimes it's hearing an old song. And sometimes, it's something as simple as seeing a bowl of potato salad sitting next to a platter of food at a family barbecue. In an instant, I'm no longer standing in my backyard. I'm back on summer vacation, traveling with my family, visiting relatives, laughing around picnic tab

When people hear the word "finance," they often think about numbers. Budgets. Investments. Retirement accounts. The stock market. While those things are certainly part of it, that's never been what finance has meant to me. To me, finance has always been about creating opportunities. Looking back, I became an entrepreneur before I even knew what the word meant. Growing up in a family of 13 children, I watched my dad constantly find new ways to support us. He didn't rely on a s

When we're younger, it's easy to take our health for granted. We rarely think about the choices we're making because, most of the time, our bodies seem to keep up with us. Long days, late nights, fast food, stress, we recover and move on. As the years go by, you begin to realize that those little choices matter more than you once thought. Looking back, I was fortunate to be introduced to health and nutrition from an early age. My mom was a nutritionist and lactation consultan

Discovering the Beauty of Nature For most of my life, I appreciated nature without thinking much about how it all worked. Growing up along the New River in Fort Lauderdale, I was surrounded by it. Our yard was filled with tropical plants, fruit trees, and wildlife. We had avocados, grapefruit, lemons, limes, mangos, coconuts, tomatoes, and countless other plants growing around us. It was simply part of everyday life. At the time, I didn't realize how lucky I was. The Gardenin

I don't remember every detail of my childhood. I don't remember every meal I ate, every toy I played with, or every conversation I had growing up. But I remember the music. Music has a way of attaching itself to moments. A single song can transport you back to a specific place, a specific year, or even a specific version of yourself. That's what makes it so powerful. It doesn't just remind you of the past. It brings it back. Some of my earliest memories are tied to the record

Growing up in a family of thirteen kids, food was never just food. It was part of everyday life. Some of my earliest memories involve cooking with my mom in our kitchen in Fort Lauderdale. We had an old blender with frayed wires that would occasionally shock us while using it. Somehow we kept making desserts anyway. My dad also had a connection to food long before I did. He worked with his Dad in his butcher shop and grocery stores. He worked in food service in the Army, spen

For almost nine years, I’ve thought about starting a blog. I’ve always loved stories, memories, and the experiences that shape who we become. So after thinking about it for years, I finally decided to start Only One Life. My name is Charlie Metzger, and this space is where I’ll share parts of my life, experiences, memories, and the things I genuinely love: food, music, nature, gardening, photography, health, finance and the simple moments that somehow stay with us forever. I