I’m a middle school English teacher. It’s fun to tell people that and watch their reaction. It’s usually obvious by their face that they’ve already judged me incorrectly as it’s often followed up by, “I wish my English teacher would have been like you.” How do they know, they’ve never been in my English class?
     I grew up in the rust belt of America, born in Akron, Ohio to a strong professional woman that married a long haired, guitar playing, high school dropout turned US Army vet turned mechanical engineer.
     Conventional is not a word you could use to describe my parents, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Before I became a teacher, I owned a tree service. It was quite the career change, but I always knew I wanted to help mold lives.
     Plus, teaching is the only way you can live forever. You see, if I influence some of my students to become teachers and they influence others, then my influence lives on forever.
     My professional experience goes from teaching in a tough as nails city school, to Standing Rock Reservation, to advanced students in an upper-class college town, to here in Spearfish.
     As much as I love my career, I don’t know if that’s what defines me. There is more to me than that.
     I love football, and not just the physicality of it, but the mental aspect of the game. I coached back in Ohio for 7 years. I also play guitar and sing, mostly old songs that I grew up listening to with my parents.
     I’ve taken camping trips all across the country with my motorcycle, Blue. I go to the gym, mull over the meaning of art, write short stories, and the list goes on.
     In essence, it’s difficult to say I’m different, because we all are.