Kevin Brady Jones Final Project-Essay FHS 1500

Kevin Brady Jones FHS 1500 Final Project Essay

In this final project essay we are applying the knowledge we have gained throughout the semester and apply it to our own life. We all have important events in our life that impact our life choices and define who we are. I will be writing about the events in my life and analyzing them to compare them with the text. I will divide my life into four particular timelines in my life. These will include my birth to age 7, age 8-15, age 16-22, and age 23-27(the present). I will focus on important events in my life that impacted my life choices and how it affected my future. Let me begin where my life began, that is, birth! Now I cannot remember much of when I was between the ages of 1-3 but I do have some key moments that I do remember because of the stories my family likes to embarrass me with. My birth was different than most in the US because I was born at home, midwife and all. The embarrassing part that my family likes to bring up is that my mother began labor while she was on the toilet. As I learned from my wife when she had our girl, childbirth feels like you need to have a bowel movement. After learning that I then understood why my mother was probably on the toilet in the first place. After being born the trouble my parents had in store for them was endless. I had many life events at the age of three that most parents wouldnt see. Just after turning three I had an event that my family will never forget. My mother had just cleaned the counters in the kitchen and walked out when I came in wanting a drink. I climbed up onto the counter to get a glass out for a drink. Just as I grabbed the glass and turned to get down, I slipped. I fell to the ground with a loud thud, glass in hand, which then cut me. It cut me across my wrist, cutting my artery, tendons, veins, and practically everything down to my bone. My mother came in and as she recalls it, it was like

walking into a sea of blood. I was flown by medical hospital to Primary Childrens Medical Center. During the flight I did what many people dont do, well, without coming back; I died. I had a great set of flight nurses and well as doctors waiting for me at the hospital and I was resuscitated, though, doctors believed I would never have use of my hand again because of the damage done. This is where my story of resilience and determination starts. I was able to regain the use of my hand with the help of my family and still have the use of it to this day! My other life event when I was three and a half, just six months after the terrible accident, I was able to do something most dont at this young age. I was obsessed with riding bikes and going everywhere I could as soon as I learned to walk, which was at 9 months old. At the age of two and a half I learned how to ride a bike all by myself with training wheels. Now back to six months after my accident at the age of three, I learned to ride a bike by myself with no training wheels. At the age of 5 I was on a dirt bike all by myself with no training wheels on the dirt bike. I was a very determined kid I feel because I was the baby of the family and had three older brothers and two older sisters. I always wanted to be with them so if that meant learning to keep up with them, well then I did it! By the age of six my mother said I was reading books that my older sister, who was in the 5th grade, was reading. I loved the sense of approval from my family and especially my older siblings! When compared to my learning in the book I was very advanced for my age and my abilities. My disadvantage was that I didnt like school one bit! This was mainly because I was bullied all throughout school until I reached the 8th grade. I had the smarts and was able to easily do my work but I preferred not to because I related it to being bullied.

This brings me to my next years in my life timeline, which is age 8-15. By the age of 8 my parents had become divorced and that had quite the impact on my life. For me, I felt like my family would never be whole again and things fell apart. At the age of nine I was in the 4th grade and my experiences of bullying continued, as did my desire to just stay home. I began decelerating in my desire to impress and my talents of learning things above average. By the 5th grade I was still reading at that level and had not progressed to anything higher and my schooling dropped. By the 6th grade I had began to make more friends and the bullying was a little less overwhelming than it had been. My life was still in a downward spiral and I hit rock bottom when I was in the end of my 7th grade year. I began hanging out with the only crowd that accepted me, and those were the troublemakers. I began doing bad things and making very poor choices. My grades plummeted, my knowledge plateaued, and I began causing lots of trouble. The worst was I broke into an elementary school with my friends and stole items from an elementary room. We were eventually caught and I was taken to juvenile detention and was also given a hefty fine. This is where my life turned around back to where it needed to be. When I turned 13 and entered the 8th grade it was at a different school. I moved out of my mothers home and into my dads where I had many good friends. I began participating in school, hanging out with great friends, and showing the talents I had thrown away. I feel my experiences helped me and I wouldnt have done it any other way. These experiences taught me great life lessons and skills I needed. By the 10th grade I was once again above level for my age and was starting back on my path to success. I was able to be continuously on the honor roll and excel in all of my classes.

This brings me up to the next time in my life and that is ages 16-22. This is a big time in life where self esteem and self worth becomes a huge part of life as you enter high school!! This was a pretty hard transition for me, or I should say scary, because of my memories of being bullied throughout my school years up to the 7th grade. As I entered high school I told myself I was going to excel, I was going to shine, I was going to live my life no matter what others said, and be who I knew I could be. I did just that and especially excelled in my 12th grade year. In the 11th grade I began playing sports, which I loved doing when I was younger, but I was scared to because of bullying. I didnt let that hold me back this time and just wanted to stand out and I also vowed to help others who were being bullied. I went from just one sport in 10th grade to playing four of them in my 11th and 12th grade years. I also sang in the choir, constantly helped out with the SBOs, worked in the office, did extracurricular clubs, took AP classes, took sports medicine, took EMT classes, and volunteered with tutoring students. My life was in the clouds and I loved what I did! I knew just about every single student that went to that school, I knew all the clicks, I knew all the geeks, everyone. I made it a point and goal to do so and to befriend everyone and anyone I could and to stop the bullying that happened. I also made it a point to not be a part of any particular click or group but to be with everyone. I wanted to make it a point that you could be who you wanted to be and not to let others hold you back. I excelled in my schoolwork as well as with the sports I played. I received scholarships for two of the sports I played at different colleges and life was good. I feel I was again above my level for my age because of doing so much and also working a job and saving money. I was very responsible and didnt

want to ever have anything to happen like it once did in Jr. High. From age 19-21 I served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This was probably one of my biggest growing points in life and really taught me what life is about. I loved helping others and serving others and I loved sharing my life with them. I also learned what sacrifice really is. When I was 9 months into my 24 month long mission I had a brother who passed away from cancer. My brother was 32 years old and had two children and a wife he left behind. I had a choice that was to be made, stay on my mission, or go home and be with my family. I can say it was one of the hardest decisions I made in my life thus far. My love for my family exceeds the average unity and love you would find in families. I decided the people on my mission needed me more than my family did and I needed to share my love for families with the people of Washington. I finished my mission and would never have it any other way. Seeing the happiness in the eyes of those I was able to teach was far more rewarding than what I would have had from going home. I can say I truly know what sacrifice is and what it means to someone! When I got home I did have a downfall and something that I wish didnt happen, though, Im also glad it happened. Confused? Thats ok, ill explain why in just a little. My downfall was that I started dating a girl who didnt exactly have the same standards I did. I was a full time student and was looking forward to going into the nursing field at the same time. I soon began hanging out with great people, and had a great time, but their standards werent where mine should have been. I began drinking, partying, smoking hookah, and letting my dreams drift away. My grades began to fail; I dropped out of school, worked two jobs, and spent most of my time partying. I ended up moving to Arizona

and spent some time on my own and with my then girlfriend. While there my girlfriend and I broke up and I ended up moving back to Utah to be with family. I was 22 at the time and moved in with my sister, got a job, and started dating again. This is where I can say I am thankful for my downfall because I met someone who I now love more than anything and I may not have met her without my downfall. I began to date my best friend and my soon to be wife. At the ripe o age of 23 I began to date someone who I immediately fell in love with. After 9 months of dating my wonderful girlfriend and I were married and she became my wonderful wife. I was hen 24 and we were both still finding out our path in life. My wife and I both drank and partied but we were happy and loved life. By the age of 25 we both decided it was time to really grow up! We both started attending church at the LDS church and soon made many goals together as a family. We had bought a house, started saving for school, and began to set a life that was good for the both of us. Soon after we got a great little surprise, this was our little girl! My wife was pregnant and I was working two jobs trying to prepare for this occasion in our life. On October 29th our little girl was welcomed into this world and we became two very happy parents. Both my wife and I were 26 years old and happy to finally have another addition to our family. This was a huge learning experience for myself and I was able to really grow during this time. I was now a dad and really needed to get things together. I knew I couldnt live a life doing the work I was doing and decided I needed to go back to school. We planned out budget and I went from two jobs to just one and started back to school. I am now back on track where I want to be in life. I have a beautiful daughter, and gorgeous and loving wife,

and am back to school to do what I love. I have goals set to get my nursing degree and possibly even continue to be a doctor. It all started when I was three, with the story about my wrist, when I decided I wanted to help people and do medicine. I am now 27 years old and loving life. I hope to have many more children, to move to a nicer home as soon as I graduate, and provide for my family! This is my life experience and the things I have learned. Thought I wish to learn more and gain more in life, Im happy where I have come. I hope to achieve more and like I did in high school just excel and do much more than the average. I want to help people and do all I can to make an impact in peoples lives and in the world. I hope to use the knowledge I have gained to help others in this aspect of life. I know it has changed my life and has greatly helped me understand the life span and human development.