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My existence came to being on August 9, 1982 and in what became a continuing life theme, I was in a hurry! My mother
arrived at the hospital with my sister in tow just in time for the nurse to catch me, Lord forbid I wait around for the doctor
to grace us with his presence.
Most of my childhood years were divided between my mother’s house in Jackson and my father’s
house on the beach in St. Joseph, both of which are in Michigan. Every year the family took two or three week vacations
where we would load up the truck, camper and set off on some adventurous road trip. In the beginning the family motto
was “have tent will travel” which was later replaced with “have wheels and beer will road trip.”
So, from the bed of a pickup converted into a kid corral, I saw many of the forty-seven states I’ve visited. To
this day I abhor riding in the car for long, although if someone else loads the cooler and I can do the driving, then the
revised family motto still holds true.
We moved quite a few times, my family is not in the military we are just nomadic. In 1993
we made the farthest relocation from Michigan to Kansas City, Missouri where we stayed for a short time before my step-father
was transferred to Shawnee Mission, Kansas. It wouldn’t be long until we were again uprooted and moved to Edmond,
Oklahoma. There were a couple years in this time period where if I added all the times both my parents moved us, I had
moved more places than years I was old. Thankfully when we moved to Oklahoma we stayed for the four years necessary
for me and my sister to graduate high-school.
Promptly after graduating
in 2000, a friend and I loaded a trailer and moved to Seattle. Life was gravy at this point since I had a fun job in
Pike’s Market, we were in the Mecca for many styles of music, and I had relatively few responsibilities. After
three months of our decadent lifestyle my roommate opted to return home and go to school. I lasted for a year then realized
I needed to follow the same path as my long lost roommate while it was still an option.
Continuing with our tradition of relocation, my family moved to Atoka, Oklahoma and bought a grocery store while I was in
Seattle. My parents offered to send me to school if I came back and worked for them, this was an opportunity I capitalized
upon since I had already been contemplating how I would manage to get back into school. I spent the next three years
working at the store and taking my general education classes at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Once again desiring
a change of scenery I transferred to Arizona State University where I will graduate with a Business Administration degree
in May of 2006.
When I am not in school or the process or moving
across the country, I am busy being an adrenaline junky. Just about every weekend I knowingly risk life and limb by
voluntarily hurling my body out of a plane from 13,500 feet. I have been skydiving for three years and in that time
I have made about 450 jumps, met the requirements for my A and B licenses, received my SCS award and have been given a small
scholarship. Besides flight (human and aircraft), I enjoy many outdoor activities like hiking, climbing boulders,
mountain biking, four wheeling, or anything that goes fast.
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