My family has always been the most prominent source of inspiration and encouragement in my life. I am extremely fortunate and thankful for the family that I have. In this post, I'll talk a little bit about each member of my family and how they've impacted me, and then some key life-events that have changed my outlook on life. (The picture above shows my mom, me, my girlfriend Andrea, my sister, and my dad.)
Troy (dad) - My dad has always been one of my heros. My parents are both Christians, and I grew up in a Christian home going to church every week. My dad played bass in the worship band, which I always thought was awesome growing up. He is incredibly smart, and always seemed to be able to help me with stuff. He taught me nearly everything I know. He is also incredibly goofy and is always smiling and joking around.
As I grew up, he chose to leave his steady job as an electrical engineer in order to serve as a "missionary" of sorts for The Navigators. That was a big change for our family, and after a few years he had to make the hard decision to find another "real" job in order to provide for our family. Watching him struggle through these transitions taught me a lot about conflict and decision making.
Lori (mom) - My mom has always been there to listen to me and comfort me. Growing up she stayed home with me and my sister. Even when we were old enough to go to Elementary school, she stayed home and took care of the house. Once my sister and I got to middle school, she decided to homeschool us for a few years. This was a huge change for our household, and I learned a lot from watching her reactions to the situation.
Alyssa (sister) - My sister has always been different than me in many ways. When we were real young, we were best friends. As we grew up, however, she became the more social and "popular" one at school, and I had my few friends. I did better in school than she did, and she always seemed to hate that. The differences between us and the way we interacted with my parents taught me more than any textbook ever could about people.
Life - Life is never as easy as we expect it to be. As I already said, my family is a Christian family, and religion has always had a place in my life and has impacted my opinions. My dad's job changes and financial struggles have taught me tons about responsibility and decision making. My mom's decision to homeschool us for a few years also taught me about family and education, and making a family "work." All of these life changes have impacted who I am and the opinions I have.
The biggest life change that I experienced was my dad's decision to take a job in Colorado Springs the summer before my senior year of high school. I had lived in the same house my entire life up to that point. Moving completely flipped my world upside down and caused me to question everything - my parents, God, myself - everything. It was an incredibly difficult time in my life, but it gave me an entirely new perspective on life. It really was good for me in the end, and I learned more from that experience about myself than at any other point in my life.
There are countless other factors that affected my life and changed my perspective on life, but this post is already too long as-is. As you can see, my family has played an integral part in my "story" and forming my opinions and outlook on life. I could go into more details about all of these things, but for brevity's sake I will leave it for a different time.
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