A large part of defining myself comes from my family. They are without a doubt, the biggest and most important thing in my life from the start until the present. I’m a …show more content…
None of my immediate family stuck close after the death of my grandma, so support from them almost never came. Being the older boy in the household gave me the role as “Dad” most of the time. I was in charge of making sure the chores were done, checking homework assignments for completion, signing binders and permission slips, packing school lunches, taking the kids to play, and all that other good stuff that a dad has to do. It never really bothered me. That was my family; I would do anything to make sure they were okay. What it did do was create a closer bond between my family, and made me realize that there will never be anyone else with my blood out there so I have to cherish every moment I have with them. This experience helped me find my identity as a family-first type of man.
Another large contributor in helping create the man I am today was my community I grew up back in elementary and high school. At first, for pre-k through elementary, I attended schools in Freeport, Illinois. Freeport is not the nicest of places to grow up in. From an increasing crime rate to daily fights, the schools around Freeport grew a bad reputation. However, even though I was an easy, open target for