FAMILY

Good evening blog world. I am finally getting around to talking about family and friends. I have had so much going on in my life right now, all good too!
I’ll start with family. Keep in mind this is not a complete history it is just points that I believe are pertinent. Family  is ridiculously important to me, from my immediate family to my extended and long distance family as well. My Mother, Carol and Father, Tom both are absolutely amazing people. They have been divorced for over 20 years, but in my mature days, now I realize it is not a bad thing at all. Both of my parents have found happiness and love with other people. With my mom, Sonny and with my dad, Marti, my stepmom for over 20 years. With all the life lessons they have taught me I am completely happy for them, and with myself. After all this time my parents have sustained a friendship and can be okay around each other as well. That is important to me. This family is NOT broken, just held together differently. My siblings, my parents and I have established a once a month time were we get together. Every 2nd Sunday with my mom and every 4th Sunday with my dad. We have been doing this for a few years and it has been great. We have gotten a lot closer as a family over the years and discovered a lot of new things about one another. We all have been thru good times and bad, as any family would. At the end of our 2nd and 4th Sunday meetings I am ready to do it again.

I have 2 brothers, 1 sister and 2 step sister. I am the youngest and I love all of them. Each one of them I carry a great importance for. We have all had our quarrellings, as siblings always do, but in the end it is just great stories to tell and laugh about. I feel as though I can tell anything to my brothers and sisters and that is the way it should be. Having so many is really a benefit as well, one is always available. That and so much more makes me grateful to be in a big family.

With my large immediate family comes a large extended network of relatives as well. We are pretty well spread all over the country. Given that and maturing life’s responsibilities we do not all see each other often enough. Social networking has fixed that. Even if we don’t talk regularly we can at least keep each other posted on our lives thru the internet.

FRIENDS

Having gone thru depression it really opened up my idea of friendship. Friendship is very important to me. I put a lot of emotion, and loyalty into my friendships. I care so much about each and every one of them. Everything they have done for me has been greatly appreciated and that appreciation is returned to the best of my abilities. I would say I have a large group of friends and I hope to continue to grow on that every day. I have friends of all ages, and all different walks of life. With all the different people they all have different views and opinions and I have overwhelming respect for other people’s opinions. The best of friends also have respect for mine. Just like family there are ups and downs but in the end you can still trust every word out of their mouths.

Upon making friends over the years of my life I realize the friendships that I build within their social groups. Most of all I am so passionate about building respect for my friends families, siblings and parents alike. For me it is an honor to be respected by the families of whom I am friends. In turn I offer up my family as well. Whenever I have a party there is such a big age gap but no one cares and everyone usually has a great time. Over time I have also built the attitude that everyone I am friends with should be able to get a long and for the most part everyone does. Next time I have a party or I am at a party take notice that sometimes I just step back and admire how well people get along. I have been doing this all along. In my eyes the party is not made by the food, drinks, and activities, it is made by the people. Guys, girls, older, younger, I love all of my friends. knowing that they have such great appreciation for me as well it one of the best feelings in the world.

You can try to walk this world alone and succeed but when you utilize the powers of family and friends you can certainly succeed in greater things. If I am talking to you, if I am making eye contact with you even, I am searching for a new friendship.

We are almost there. I want to talk about goals and what is going on in my life right now and we will save that for another day.

Thank you so much for reading and come back soon.

Aside from my Parents, my involvement in Scouts has been one of the most influential parts of my life. I went all the way from Cub Scouts, to Boy Scouts, to Venture Scouts, to being a respected adult leader with Troop 99.  In Scouts I have learned how to survive out in the wilderness and in today’s society. I Learned how to have fun and be responsible at the same time. I learned an abundance about empathy and leadership. I have learned so much I don’t even think I can remember to list every little thing. It is very difficult to summarize my whole Scouting life but someday when I write a book I will be able to share everything.

I am proud to say that I am an Eagle Scout, the highest rank in the Scouting program. The road to Eagle was not easy, it required lots of time, dedication and hard hands on work. The Scouting program is such a wonderful program, and the set of boys and adult leaders I grow up with have made the experience about as wonderful and fun as it possibly could be.

Later on in the troop the Venture Crew was created and It was created in an effort to keep the older boys interested and keep them involved in the troop to help the younger boys. Venture Scouts was some of the most fun I have ever had. We did things I never thought I would be doing, like white water rafting, rock climbing, mountain biking, back packing in New Mexico and Montana, and so much more.

After I Turned 18 I was no longer a boy in the troop I became an adult leader. As an adult leader I took on many roles and helped in many ways. I was even teaching the younger boys how to be leaders themselves. Today my Scouting involvement has been very minimal. I have no excuse other then following life’s path. I am still in touch with so many people from my troop and my “Scout Spirit” will forever remain. This Eagle Scout shall never lay his 20+ year involvement in Scouting to rest, for it would be a great disappointment to who I am today. So many of the boys who are not so much boys these days still look up to me and I don’t know if they realize how much that means to me, how good it makes me feel. I would like to even assume that I may have had a little influence on the other adult leaders in the troop as well.

Forever I will live my life by the Scout Oath and Law  “On my honor, I will do my best”

http://www.usscouts.org/advance/boyscout/bsoathlaw.asp

Next up I would like to touch on family and friends. Hang in there I will talk about my goals after family and friends then I will begin present day positive experiences, life lessons, and beneficial thoughts. Of course there are things I will throw in from my past that seem worth while to share.