I am the eldest of two younger brothers, Nathan and Brent. As we grew up we were constantly reminded by our mother that we will always have each other and we're each others only best friend. As a little kid, I doubted my mom thinking there's no way my brothers will ever be my only best friend! And her response was always, "because they are the only ones that know your life and are always going to be there for you as you grow older." Well now, I'm proud to say I was wrong and she was right. And here's why...
At the age of 10, our dad was in an car accident due to drunk driving not far from our home. He was air lifted to Flagstaff hospital, where our mom followed after him with our grandma and aunt. As for my brothers and I, I remember sitting in our mom's car looking at our diesel truck totaled alongside the road surrounded by officers and flashing red and blue lights, and further away our dad laying on a stretcher. I looked back to my brothers and they were both in tears, I moved towards them and wrapped my arms around them both. Our dad was okay but to this day every time we go home I glance at the spot and see our dad laying there, then I remember my brothers being there and I being the big sister and comforting them.
Three years ago was another major impact on our lives, the passing of our grandma. She was the greatest person ever! My brothers and I, all spent our early childhood with her a lot and Brent, the youngest of us all, spent the most time with her growing up. Her last days with us, Grandma's House was the one place we all wanted to be every weekend and making her laugh with our silliness together. When she passed, we were all we had. Days after Brent would be crying and I would just hold him and cry with him, he would then remind himself that she was in a better place and I could only agree with him at that time.
Despite our tragic events so young, we managed to work together to overcome them. Our mom was right and she knew way before any of these events, good and bad, affected our lives which still amazes me today. Its not just these two tragic events that helped me understand that we have each other, but are the main ones that I personally believe that my brothers are my best friends. We're the oddest of the oddest kids and I give my mom props for keeping us around with her and teaching us that we're always going to be there for one another no matter what life throws at us!
I absolutely love my brothers, even when I hate them! (If you have younger siblings, you know what I mean, especially boys..) Everyone needs a best friend or friends, I'm just lucky to have my little brothers as mine, always and forever!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Beginning to Weld
For my first blog it was quite hard to decide what to "blog" about and from my friends I was given outrageous ideas that I had to clarify had to be "school appropriate." Until one finally suggested to blog about something I love, without a second more, I thought of welding. But first I began thinking of how I always dreamed of being a doctor or surgeon or somewhere in the medical field before welding, so here's how it happened...
It originally started with a program at my high school known as Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technology (NAVIT), that consisted of Welding, Health Related Occupation (HRO), and a few others. HRO was that program I told my mom and others that I was doing, but on the day of testing I marked welding. Why? I still don't have a clear answer but I'm very glad I did though that weekend I told my mom and she wasn't so happy about it. After telling her I visited my older cousin brother, Jerrin, who is an ironworker and I told him what I did and he just laughed about me. Minutes later I asked what is welding? He looked at me and responded let me show you. He handed me a Carhartt long sleeved button up shirt that already had burns up the sleeves, a welding cap to cover my hair, and putting on what I now know is called arm sleeves on my arms then a welding hood and gloves. As he was suiting me up, his older and younger brother, Everett and Jaylin, were setting up their Miller Bobcat Welder (a welding machine) on the side of me. At that point I was beginning to become more and more nervous and excited at the same time, I stood and watched as the three of them put their jackets, hoods, and gloves faster than I did of course. When they were done Jerrin told me to sit beside him and watch the little puddle. Everett pushed my hood down and we all gathered around Jerrin. "COVER!" was the last thing I heard, everything went silent when the bright light was the only thing I saw, at that moment I felt like a little kid again with a smile so big I couldn't take my eyes off that spark! Then Jerrin started talking about the puddle and keeping it the same size and how you have to push and pull the rod (stick used for welding) to keep the puddle steady and flowing evenly. After he completed a stringer (a welded line), he began telling me about how there are different ways of welding, different metal, different rods, different positions of welding, so many different things about welding and I didn't even understand any of it but it interested me even more!
The beginning of my junior year in high school was when I began taking welding classes with the NAVIT program. The first day of class I learned that I would be receiving college credit in welding by passing tests and doing different welding projects as a grade. I had NAVIT in the mornings then high school in the afternoon and I loved it a lot because I only had four classes at the high school. I remember my first welding assignment, two pads (welds overlapping one another to increase the thickness of the metal) with 6010 and 7018 (welding rods), I was so scared thinking that I would mess up or not be able to weld at all and with all these thoughts going through my mind I recall Jerrin telling me, "every welder sees the same puddle, no matter if you're a beginner or you've been welding all your life that puddle will remain the same." After feeling confident enough I did my first weld, then again, and again and again until I got it right.
I looked forward to welding everyday. Being able to welding is what I love doing, I do not regret changing my dream of becoming a doctor but looking forward to underwater welding as my ultimate dream now. So it's okay to change your dreams and chase new ones, or in a cliche "always expect, the unexpected."
It originally started with a program at my high school known as Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technology (NAVIT), that consisted of Welding, Health Related Occupation (HRO), and a few others. HRO was that program I told my mom and others that I was doing, but on the day of testing I marked welding. Why? I still don't have a clear answer but I'm very glad I did though that weekend I told my mom and she wasn't so happy about it. After telling her I visited my older cousin brother, Jerrin, who is an ironworker and I told him what I did and he just laughed about me. Minutes later I asked what is welding? He looked at me and responded let me show you. He handed me a Carhartt long sleeved button up shirt that already had burns up the sleeves, a welding cap to cover my hair, and putting on what I now know is called arm sleeves on my arms then a welding hood and gloves. As he was suiting me up, his older and younger brother, Everett and Jaylin, were setting up their Miller Bobcat Welder (a welding machine) on the side of me. At that point I was beginning to become more and more nervous and excited at the same time, I stood and watched as the three of them put their jackets, hoods, and gloves faster than I did of course. When they were done Jerrin told me to sit beside him and watch the little puddle. Everett pushed my hood down and we all gathered around Jerrin. "COVER!" was the last thing I heard, everything went silent when the bright light was the only thing I saw, at that moment I felt like a little kid again with a smile so big I couldn't take my eyes off that spark! Then Jerrin started talking about the puddle and keeping it the same size and how you have to push and pull the rod (stick used for welding) to keep the puddle steady and flowing evenly. After he completed a stringer (a welded line), he began telling me about how there are different ways of welding, different metal, different rods, different positions of welding, so many different things about welding and I didn't even understand any of it but it interested me even more!
The beginning of my junior year in high school was when I began taking welding classes with the NAVIT program. The first day of class I learned that I would be receiving college credit in welding by passing tests and doing different welding projects as a grade. I had NAVIT in the mornings then high school in the afternoon and I loved it a lot because I only had four classes at the high school. I remember my first welding assignment, two pads (welds overlapping one another to increase the thickness of the metal) with 6010 and 7018 (welding rods), I was so scared thinking that I would mess up or not be able to weld at all and with all these thoughts going through my mind I recall Jerrin telling me, "every welder sees the same puddle, no matter if you're a beginner or you've been welding all your life that puddle will remain the same." After feeling confident enough I did my first weld, then again, and again and again until I got it right.
I looked forward to welding everyday. Being able to welding is what I love doing, I do not regret changing my dream of becoming a doctor but looking forward to underwater welding as my ultimate dream now. So it's okay to change your dreams and chase new ones, or in a cliche "always expect, the unexpected."
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