The Road to Happiness

Nerves were the first emotion felt on my road to happiness. When I refer to this road, I really mean the highway up to Bayfield where I proposed to my girlfriend. The first step was asking her farther for his permission. As I sat across the kitchen table from what I hoped to be my future father in law, nerves ran through my body. Would he say yes? Would she even say yes? I was a ball of emotions and couldn’t keep still while I stumbled to get the words out. After getting his full permission to ask her, it was time to get the ring. She had once explained what she liked in jewelry, but I thought it wise to bring her best friend of 20 years along for the trip. With the ring in my hand and anxiety the big day was approaching.

I had planned this for a week and my girlfriend had absolutely no idea what was coming. When she got home from a long day of school it would be nice to describe her mood as cranky. It was a Thursday night and we both had Friday off, I wanted to be spontaneous. My girlfriend doesn’t do well with spontaneous. I asked her if she wanted to go out to dinner as she insisted she was to tired and wanted to make grilled cheese. It took about a half hour to convince her to get ready and go out with me.  Then came the next challenge.

My girlfriend and I spend our summers camping in Bayfield, and we have a favourite restaurant by the beach where we love to go and then walk the beach. This is where I always knew I wanted to purpose, being January I had a hard time convincing her to take a road trip. She was dead set against the idea of going up there, and I had to trick her into going by telling her the lake would be frozen. She insisted I was wrong but she had never seen a lake in the winter and was intrigued and fooled in to the road trip.

On the long drive up to Bayfield I had the ring in the pocket of my jacket and didn’t want her to find it, I was too nervous to take my coat off, and I hate being hot. My girlfriend cranked the heat while insisting I take off my jacket, as I pretended I was cold I was actually sweating a lot. We joked and had a good drive and I was so nervous the whole way.

We finally got to Bayfield and had dinner at our restaurant and then I convinced her to go down to the beach to see if the lake was frozen, of course it wasn’t. I then insisted that we walk the beach, but she claimed it was too dark and she was scared, she even made a reference to criminal minds that at the time really made me mad. As we walked down the doc I planned to make it to the end but nerves got the best of me and I got down on my knee and asked her to marry me...

She replied with a slap to my shoulder and a “stop joking jerk not funny”. It was dark and she couldn’t see the ring in my hand and thought I was joking. As I stood there shaking I finally made her realise I was serious, and she said yes.

The road to happiness was long and full of anxiety, but it sure makes for a great story we can on day tell our children.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it superman? .... NO... It’s my mother!

     When I take the time to think about the person that inspires me the most my mother comes to mind first. My mom is an amazing woman and I am so thankful for what she has done for me in life. Her story is an amazing one and not every person faced with the situation would be able to do so good.

     When my mom was only 18 years old she met my “biological father”.  They got pregnant with my older brother at this young age, and did the responsible thing and got married. 2 years later they had me, her favourite child. Shortly after another year and a half came my baby sister. My mom was 23 years old with hands full with 3 small children.

     When my little sister was barely a year old, due to circumstances I would rather keep personal, my mom and biological father broke up. My mom became a 23 year old single mom with 3 children to take care of. Although my mother had a lot of support from her family, it was up to her to raise her 3 kids.

     My mother worked 3 jobs while she put herself through college to be a dental assistant. The magic part about it was even though she worked all these jobs and did school, I had an amazing child hood and my mother was always therefore me. Even working 3 jobs my mother spent lots of time with me and my siblings. She was like wonder woman.

     It amazes me how strong of a women my mother was to be so young and do so much for her kids with no help from my biological father. She is an amazing woman in my eyes.  When I was  4 my mother met what I consider my real father. He was an amazing father figure for me and after 10 years of dating and 3 proposals they got married.

     My mom was faced with a lot in her life and always kept a smile on her face. She inspires me to want to do my best at everything because she made a great life for our family.

It’s not a bird, a plane or superman, my mom is a hero.

A New Chapter

     Growing up is not an option, but is something required of us in life.  When I was a kid I always told my mom that I would live with her forever and I believed it to. When I was a kid I didn’t dream of growing up, I believed I could be a kid forever. As much as I still consider me to be a big kid, there comes a time when we all have to grow up and move out.

     My time has come for this to happen, and I have a wide mix of emotions I am feeling about moving out on my own. I am very excited to have the privacy and freedom to do what I want. If I have a day off no one will be telling me to do things, I can play hockey, or watch TV all day. There will be relaxing times and also stressful time. Moving out is a big responsibility. I realise I have to keep working hard, and manage my money to pay bills. This is the part of moving out that is stressful.

     I am happy about having my own place. I can decorate it how I want, and I can run my household how I wish, not with people telling me how. I am also happy that I will be in the same apartment as my brother because we are good friends. It will be nice to have him close, but there will still be privacy.  This will also mean I can see my nephew and niece any day I want because they are a big part of my life.

     Even if I am scared of growing up and being an adult with responsibility, the challenge is thrilling. There comes a point in life when you just have to jump into things you might not feel ready for, and see how they turn out. As for this new chapter of my life I can honestly say I am excited and cannot wait till the end of the month for the big move.

Derailed

             Thinking back on my education makes me feel like I was off track, but I currently feel like I am back on the right path. When I first started grade 9, I was not very excited about the amount of work required from me. I was more excited about meeting new people and making new friends. I tried to stay focused on my studies, but found it difficult to get through class and do my homework.

               

               Until grade 11 I was able to keep myself focused enough to manage to get by with passing grades, But then I became derailed from life. I got in with some of the wrong people, and couldn’t tell that my future was slowly slipping away from me. I found myself being distracted from my school work and what was truly important, by childish and immature habits that I am proud to have finally left behind. I realise now that I fell off the track, I dropped out of school and at the time didn’t care. I didn’t think you needed an education to be successful in life, and now know I was wrong.

                I spent a bit over a year in the working world, doing factory work with tools and I hated it. I realised shortly after I started this job that I didn’t want to do this for the rest of my life. With pressure from my friends and family I knew what I had to do and I also knew it would be a struggle for me. Even though I have kicked my bad habits and have grown up a whole lot from the kid I used to be, I still find it challenging to do school work.

                Going back to school was the easiest and hardest decision I have made. If I want to complete any of my career goals I know I need my high school diploma, making the decision easy. On the other hand school has always been hard for me, focusing on work is not a strong suit of mine and this made the decision hard. Now that I have found myself back on the right path and have almost worked my way to my diploma I am so happy with my accomplishments. Some people have doubted me the whole time, while others have cheered me on, and I am looking extremely forward to the day where I beat the odds against me, and finally finish school.

Although once derailed, it’s great to be on the right path for my future again.        

What? Colour?

Technology has come a long way, even just in the short span of my life. Personally I have watched computers be introduced, cell phones advance, and televisions become flat screened. One huge change that has happened in history in the way of technology would be movies changing from black and white in to sound and then color, and even the further advancement of animation.

Back in the early 1900’s moves were produced in black and white. Movies have advanced a lot since back when they were made like this. Classic movies such as Psycho and Schindler’s list are very different from movies being produced in the 21^st century. Black and white movies were simple, normal sets, normal costumes and nothing to out of the ordinary. It wasn’t until technology advanced that the film industry really took off.

One of the major advancements movies have now is the use of green screen. Green screens can be used as a movie scene to depict the effect of the cast in the moving being somewhere dangerous when you don’t actually want to put the actors in danger.

Special effects are a huge change in movies as well. Movies can use special effects to do all sorts of things, such as make a normal person appear as twins, create the illusion of aliens, dinosaurs or dragons. Movies such as harry potter use a huge amount of special effects that enhance the experience of the movies we view.

Another huge change in film over the years includes the use of animation. Movies using animation have really come along way even since I was a child. Watching movies such as Toy Story in comparison to movies today such as The Adventures of Tin Tin, you can really see how far advanced we have become. Old cartoon movies used to impress me, but after seeing Tin Tin, I have really been blown away. These days they can take animation and make a movie really come to life!

The Joy of LIfe

I have always heard people saying that children are the joy and reward of life. Ever since I crossed the line from childhood into my teen years I have loved to be around kids and play with them.  I have little cousins that I love to play things with, like hockey, and they enjoy hanging out with me just as much as I like them. I never thought I would really understand how children are the joy of life until I had my own. Then 4 years ago my brother had my first nephew, and I now have 2 nephews and 1 niece. Being an uncle has opened up my love for kids further, and I am confident I will make an amazing father when the time comes.

Being an uncle has really changed my life and taught me responsibility. I have been faced with the challenge of helping to raise theses 3 kids, as they are a huge part of my life.  I not only get to play with them but I get to teach them. I love to teach my nephew about hockey and get him to like my teams. It is fun to have kids look up to me. I also get to teach them what is right and wrong in the world, and am forced to discipline them if they have been bad. I have watched my oldest nephew grow from a baby into a little boy, and have enjoyed the journey very much.

When my first nephew and niece were born I was not as keen on babies. I did not really like to hold them, feed them or change them. As I am older now and have grown up I have also seen my newest nephew change this in me. He is 2 months old, and I really enjoy holding him and playing with him, although I still won’t change him, my own kids might be a different story.

Having nephews and nieces has really made me see that kids really are the joy in life. I love to be around kids, and I am a kid at heart. At family gatherings I am always the one the kids want to play with. Having these little people in my life has really helped me to grow up. Not saying I am in a rush to start a family, but when the day comes, I am sure I’ll be ready.

How a Passion Can Become a Career

     When I think about what I'm passionate about one thing comes to mind- Coaching. When I coach hockey I feel as if I'm doing something that I'm not only good at but something that helps children gain self-esteem and get excited about exercise. Coaching is much like teaching- I'm taking my education about hockey and sharing that with young people that, like me are passionate about the sport. To make my passion become a career I would have to go through extensive amounts of schooling to expand my education on the history of hockey and the business behind couching professionally.
     Being a coach for boys hockey comes with a certain amount of preparation as well. I had to take a 2 day course to get my coaching certificate and write a test to become certified. There are also different security checks that I had to do to insure that I am qualified and able to be a leader. Coaching comes with a lot of responsibility, you are expected to be a good role model for younger children, therefore it may be beneficial to get more education on child development and problem solving methods. For the most part a career like coaching would take many years of experience to be able to become a coach for something as exclusive as the NHL.
   As a coach my main goals are to motivate players to become the best they can be by teaching them the basics. Starting with drills that will gain players confidence to be able to practise and up their athletic ability as well as their stamina. I enjoy coaching from the beginning because it allows me to teach children the fundamentals on how to be a successful athlete. Teaching young kids is the first step to a career in coaching. After coaching recreational hockey, it is best to go into coaching higher leagues in which you can gain more experience and a good reputation.
      Some educational courses that might be good to have are specialities in exercise, sports science, and physical education. To be considered for professional Coaching there are many different degrees that you can achieve such as: physiology, fitness, nutrition, physical education or sports management. Not only do coaches have to be good at team building and athlete strengthening, they should also be good at public speaking and business management. Some courses that may help with the business aspect of coaching are: Sports Management, Athletic Administration, or Sports and Recreational Management.
     The three main aspects of coaching that you must have in order to be successful are: schooling, experience and skill. With the three you can change coaching from a passion and hobby to a professional career.