Pretty Amazing

There is an amazing scholarship opportunity put on by Seventeen Magazine. The winner receives a $10,000 scholarship and a front cover magazine offer! The deadline is today. I misread the essay guidelines and wrote a 1,000 word essay. It's due in a few hours, and I just re-read the guidelines to see that the max is 1,000 characters! So, while I'm cutting down my beautiful, lengthy essay...you can read the original. I needed to write why I am "pretty amazing..."

Amazing. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines amazing as causing amazement, great wonder, or surprise. I believe that there is a little something in all of us that is amazing. For some, it is a special talent that they possess. My mother is an amazing quilter and my father is amazing in his work with computers. For others, it is great life experiences that they have endured. My nephew near-drowned and has made an amazing recovery, while my husband was a miracle baby at his birth. Another form of amazement is personality characteristics. I believe that I have a certain personality trait that makes me amazing. I am dedicated. I actively participate in my family, my career, my education, and more. My dedication has brought great wonder and surprise to those that I know. Like every other person out there, I am pretty amazing.

My own family began in 2007. I began dating my husband, Christopher, in the summer of 2005. We were married in July 2007 in the Sacramento LDS Temple. I had just finished my first year of college at CSU Sacramento as a Liberal Studies Major. In January 2008, I found out that I was pregnant. What an amazing blessing! I continued to attend school throughout my pregnancy. As I was due in October, I planned to take a year off and return fall of 2009.

October 17^th arrived. I delivered a gorgeous, healthy baby girl of 9 pounds 8 ounces. Emery. She had the most beautiful big blue eyes. Her head was full of soft sun kissed brown hair, with golden bronze highlights. I could not take my eyes off of her. Even without accomplishing anything in this life yet, she was amazing. I could not believe that I had created something so wonderful in this world. This little girl, this beautiful baby in my arms, was from me. I knew instantly that the most important calling in my life was to mother this child.

The months went by swiftly. She grew up; much too quickly it seemed. She was my life. I stayed at home with her and did not return to school. I yearned to continue my education, but struggled with the idea of being away from her so often. I was determined to raise my daughter, to teach her, and to learn from her. I knew that I would someday complete my degree, so I stayed at home and marveled at the beauty of my toddler.

In the summer of 2009, I became Drill Team Coach at Elk Grove High School. This was the high school that I graduated from in 2006. I was filled with such excitement when I was offered the position. I had been on the team for 3 of my high school years, and was a Captain for 2 of those years. I had and still have such a passion for the team. Coaching the team requires a lot of time, and the development of several different skill sets. Duties include attending practice, choreographing routines, cleaning routines, organizing performances and events, planning and attending fundraisers, and more. We practice at least 4 times a week, with two practices after school and two at 6:00am before school. I split the practices with a co-coach, and today have an assistant who splits practices with me.

Many of the challenges of this job were worsened at the fact that I had a small child and lived 40 minutes from the school. The early mornings were especially difficult. However, at every practice and performance, I look at the team of high school girls that I lead. I remember how much the team meant to me, how much I looked up to my coach, how much I dreaded when she left, and how those feelings are still within me. I am extremely dedicated to my team as a whole, and to each girl who gets up early in the morning when I do.

In May of 2010, I had a baby boy. I delivered my 9-pound, 9-ounce Averson at 4:44am without an epidural. Now everything else in life is a piece of cake! Although I marveled at his beauty like his sister before, I was more entranced by watching my kids together. To this day, I absolutely love the moments where I can sit back and watch my kids play together. This is not always the case, as anyone with siblings would know, but it is pretty amazing that I helped create this family.

I took about a month off when I had my son, but returned to my job soon. I missed my drill team and was anxious to return to them. To this day, I am still coaching the team, spending time with my family and anxiously awaiting my chance to return to school.

I will be returning to school this summer. I am elated at the opportunity that I am going to have to finish my schooling. It took 3 years to finally get back, but I knew that it would happen. My goal is to teach high school math at a school where I can also coach drill team. This dream job of mine would allow me to teach and educate, coach and express my passion, and work when my kids attend school so that we all have evenings and summers together as a family.

Dedication is defined as devoting or setting aside for a particular purpose. I set time aside to coach. I set time aside to play with my family. I will set time aside for my schooling. I am passionate about my family, my career, and my education. I have no doubt that whatever life will bring my way, that I will find time to do what I enjoy doing. I believe I am an ordinary woman. The thing about ordinary people is that they are all extraordinary. When you get to know any one person, you will find that they are, simply put, pretty amazing.