Who am I?

“You are a product of your environment, so choose the best environment that will develop you towards your objective. Analyze your life in terms of your environment. Are the things around you helping you toward success—or are they holding you back?”

                                                                                   

-W. Clement Stone

When people ask me “What do you want to do with your life?” I cannot answer them with a solid statement. I don’t know exactly where I am going, but I know where I have been. I come from Aurora and I will never deny it. 

The fact of the matter is, I will always be a Husky. Wherever life may take me, my identity as an Auroran will always follow. I am proud of being raised in the Midwest, and especially proud of being raised in Aurora, Nebraska. A certain sense of pride has been instilled upon me. It’s the reason why I get up in the morning. It’s the reason I go all out in every athletic competition that I am privileged enough to be a part of. You could tell me that being brought up in this part of the country makes me less intellectual, or less artistic, but I would beg to differ. I am flat out proud of being from Aurora. That is why I put the “A” on my deep map, because it’s the central figure of my life and will always be a huge part of my personality.

Out of the many things that Aurora is well known for, at the top of that list is our reputation for being hard workers. We commit to what we do, plain and simple. Entering high school I didn’t know exactly what to expect. I soon learned that varsity athletics is an enormous step up from anything else! The amount of time and effort invested in these activities is monumental. No more hour and a half practices on Tuesday and Thursday. It’s 3 hours a day, every day. When it comes to football, there are three words that could effectively sum up our program. Tradition. Discipline. Unity. These principles have created a calling card for Aurora. If I were from another town in the surrounding area, I know exactly which town I would respect.

Another item you might discover on my Deep Map is my Ford. We have been through some tough times together I would say. She’s my baby, and it kills me to see her all bent out of shape right now. You see, about a month ago, I was driving out by Philips around two o’clock at night. My front right tire blew out and my golden F150 was sent fishtailing all across that country road. It is quite difficult to maintain control of a vehicle swerving miles at 40 miles an hour on gravel. The truck was sent careening into the ditch, where thankfully, there happened to be some barbed wire. Barbed wire does wonders for rubber tires as you might know. The back tire was popped as well, along with some ugly scratches to the left side of the vehicle, and a bent rear bumper. We plan on getting it fixed down at Todd’s body shop within the next week. Its funny because my mom now drives my truck to work now and I get to take the "Manvan" as we call it. Its a 2000 Dodge white minivan that has soccer mom written all over it.
Speaking of my mother, her side of the family is Swedish. Her grandfather was a full blooded Swede and came to the United States in the early 20th century. You can see the cookbook that contains one of my familes Christmas tradition recipes. While Tina's side comes from northern Europe, my dad was born and raised in New Zealand, which is pretty much on the opposite side of the world.

Among the gold truck, and the words tradition, discipline, and unity, you will see a very important group of letters to me. JP3. It stands for Jacob Peters, who was number 3 on the football field. He was my best friend and in the winter of our sophomore year he discovered that he had T-Cell lymphoma. Through more than half a year he battled. Radiation, chemotherapy, and rehabilitation never stopped him. He even attended weightlifting on and off in the summer. This was a dedicated kid who never gave up. Sadly, on November 16, he passed away. Jacob was my best friend since the 1st grade. He was influential on my involvement in sports, attendance in the weight room, and outlook on life. Life is not a just a simple game of rights and wrongs or ups and downs. I know it sounds cliche but you have to live like this is your last day. Life is a network. A network of relationships, and inner feelings. You have to say what you mean, and mean exactly what you say because you never know when it will be the last time you utter those words. Jacob taught me that. At times he could be a bit overbearing and pushy. But i know that it was only because he wanted you to reach your full potential as not only an athlete, but as a person. He saw the good in every single one of us and knew that with a little encouragement your charachter would develop.

These items on my deep map all represent who I am very well, and the encircling thing is my hometown and friends.

The people and things that have steered my path over the last 17 years mean the world team me. . We sometimes take those we love for granted and when one of these people leaves our life, we always notice the hole that they left. So thats why I chose the song "If Heaven wasn't so Far Away," by Justin Moore. If only we could see the people we lost just one more time what would we say? I know that I would apologize. I know that I would reminisce. I know that if I was given the opportunity to see my grandmother, or Jacob, one last time I would make it count.