The Big 3 - O

So it is finally here; the big 3-0. 

I can’t believe I’m turning thirty.  It seems surreal.  I shouldn’t be thirty yet and as I mentioned before, I can’t help but to reflect on what has gotten me to this point and how far I’ve come.

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I graduated high school and went away to college only to realize that I was not ready for that.  I didn’t know at the time that I was really supposed to be going to all of the classes that I had signed up for.  I figured I was a smart guy, I could do all that stuff.  Yea, my professors didn’t agree either and were not impressed by my lack of effort.

After that flop of an experience, I joined the Army.  Seriously, at the time the military was the best thing for me.  Unfortunately the shine quickly faded.  The army is not as much fun as they make it look on T.V. or video games.  I ended up graduating basic training September 13^th, 2001. 

We were actually coming off our bivouac (biv – whack) at the time.  The bivouac was our last test of basic.  We had been out in the field ‘camping’ for two days; being shot at, digging and living in fox-holes, no sleep and eating MRE’s (meals ready to eat).  I remember thinking that the trade center attacks had to be another test by our drill sergeants, until I looked at their faces.  Nothing is scary than seeing the person that can scare the sh!t out of you scared.

After basic I went to A.I.T. in Virginia (Advanced Individual Training), where I was taught my actual military job.  I say my actual job because first and foremost your job is a soldier, that’s why basic is first.  Ah, makes sense now huh?

I don’t know if it was fortunate or unfortunate (I have to say fortunate now), I was injured in the line of duty.  (Sorry, I don’t mean to joke about it, but it is something that would only happen to me.)  I was injured running a P.T. (physical training) test.  I was racing a drill sergeant in a two-mile sprint and he cut to get out of my way so that I could finish and when he did I pulled up not to run into him and fell off of the curb, twisting my ankle.

I was eventually told that if I could not march and I could not run then I was no good to the Army. 

Well fine!  Then I’m going home.  And that ended that.

In time, I ended up back in my hometown, where at my age there was no way I was going to do anything but get in trouble.  And I did.  I had to get away from there.

I decided to try Austin for a while.  I ended up living there for a little over 5 years.  In the beginning it was good, great even, but when it went bad it went real bad.  Ultimately, I think most of my troubles came from lacking a direction for my life.

I decided I wanted to go back to school, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do it by myself.  I was going to need the support of my family, and that is exactly what I found in College Station.  My mother and my brother lifted me up when I was ready to give up.  I don’t think either of them will ever understand how much I needed it at the time (and still now too, but at that time I really needed it).

So there I was in College Station and the only idea that kept running through my head was “I only made it this far in life thanks to the teachers that took the time to teach me.”  I could never repay all of them for their inspiration, but maybe I could pay in forward.  So I decided that I wanted to teach, and specifically I wanted to teach the age that I felt like was the hardest for me; junior high, 7^th and 8^th graders.  Thank you to all of my teachers, parents and mentors that stuck with me even when I was a giant pain in the @$$.

While there are points in my life that I wish I could change, I don’t wish very hard because they got me to where I am today and I wouldn’t change a thing about my life now.  You know the butterfly effect and all; change one thing in the past changes everything that followed it.

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So here I am, 30 years old and loving my life, the good and the bad not so good.  Here’s to at least 30 more.