What is my purpose (third blog posting)

What is My Purpose?

If this isn't the million dollar question, I don't know what is!  I really wish I knew what I was going to do with my life, and what I could do to get the most out of the people around me first, and what's going to make me a better person second.  I can't wait to find out what that is!

I believe my purpose right now is to be a good role model young children that observe me and to create as many friendships with my fellow classmates as possible.  John Katz summed friendship up the best. He said, “I think if I've learned anything about friendship, it's to hang in, stay connected, fight for them, and let them fight for you. Don't walk away, don't be distracted, don't be too busy or tired, don't take them for granted. Friends are part of the glue that holds life and faith together. Powerful stuff.” That quote is amazing to me and really hits home with me. If everyone just took a step back and just thought about what really matters in life and who the people you want to be with you for the rest of your life, I really think we would understand how important the interactions we make today and tomorrow and forever really are!

What I plan to do right now is to graduate from Aurora High School this May, have a wonderful summer, and go off to college.  I plan to attend the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where I want to major in Pre-Education.  My ultimate goal is to teach elementary students.  I absolutely love kids and I can see myself spending the rest of my life helping those kids to develop in to successful adults.  I got this ambition and passion about six years ago, when God brought in to this world my beautiful baby sister, Reagan. Although she can get on my nerves and be annoying, I love her to death and I feel so much joy when I teach her something new and when I see her develop her skills! I really hope when I get to college I do not slack.  I want to uphold a solid GPA and create a solid resume for later in life when I plan to get a job.  If I had the chance to come back to Aurora and teach, I would accept the offer in a heartbeat!  I love the community I live in and the people I'm surrounded with.  I would like to start a family in this town and raise my children to be respectful and to have wonderful morals, what this town is about. To go along with getting my teacher's certificate, I want to get a coaching endorsement.  I want to coach high school football, also. I would like to expand my development of kids beyond the 3:30 bell and I believe the best way to do that is to coach football.  A few of the most influential people in my life are Coach Huebert and my dad, Coach Ashby.  Both are football coaches and both impact my life greatly.  They have taught me lessons that I will take with me the rest of my life.  They have taught me to be respectful and grateful to the things around me and they have taught me that you can never work hard enough, and that good work ethic can go a long ways.

Another thing that I would enjoy would be to be a father.  The most beautiful thing in the world is the gift of life. Kids are awesome and hilarious and sweet! I love spending time with little kids and I think the most awesome thing in the world is to see a part of me in a kid.  I am definitely not ready to be a father yet, and not for awhile but I do think it is part of my purpose, and frankly I think it should be everyone's purpose! I want to get married around the age of 25 and to raise a family in a family-oriented community.  I want to be able to support my family.  I would also like to be a very active member in my community, whether that be a public official or however else, but I want to give back to the community that has given so much to me! I absolutely can not wait to find out what my purpose actually is and how I can help others the most!

 

                                                                          My Home

The picture on the right is of my humble abode.  It is where I have grown up with my family and where my friends and I have had numerous sleepovers where, of course, something was broken every time!  I haven't lived in this house my whole life, but this is where most of my childhood memories have come from and this is where I've had the most fun.  Across the highway and down the street were where a couple of my friends live or lived.  As we were growing up, Rick Schmidt, Alex Hunt, and I would hop off of bus #20 after a long, hard day of elementary school and start our shenanigans.  We kind of had a rotation on who's house we were going to.  If we went to Rick's, we played outside on the trampoline that sat underneath the basketball hoop and we played a rough game of 'slamball'.  If we went to Alex's, he always had the latest shoot-em-up video game and we would get our daily dose of violence through that.  If we went to my house, we either played tackle football in the back or we played our own invention, 'kneeball', which was pretty much baseball played with your hands and a foam ball and you ran bases on your knees.

      

 

                                                                My School

Aurora High School. Hmm.... Where to start?  As much as I absolutely dread going to school and I don't want to say it, but I do think I am developing the senioritis I promised myself I would not get at the beginning of the year.  I just can't help it.  It's just so close to being the end of my high school career and I can't help but get super excited! I do appreciate my school, it's staff, and everyone that I see every day in the hallways.  I may not actually like the whole school part, but I absolutely love walking down the hallways each morning and seeing the smiling faces of my teachers and the friendly "Hello's" you receive from just about anyone.  It really does make your school day better and help ease the pain.  My favorite part about school is when you see teachers and you can just have a casual conversation with them, asking them how their day is going and if anything is new in their life.  It's nice to be able to have a strong personal relationship with the people you see every day at school!  The basketball court at my school as been a place of joy for me.  I love playing basketball in that gym, especially during a good game with a big crowd!  It gets loud and your adrenaline gets pumping.  I can honestly say there are not very many better feelings then the feeling when I'm on that court, playing a basketball game, and hearing the crowd go wild!

My Community

The pictures are hard to see and don't even get close to doing justice to how amazing they are.  On the left is the scenery I see everyday on my drive to school.  The sun is usually rising at this time and it paints the sky in all different colors as you can kind of see in the back of the picture.  Trees line both sides of the tree and the lawns are nearly perfect.  Maybe I am just the only one that really gets excited about things like that, but it really just makes you feel a sense of pride in your community and makes your day a lot better when you see a joyous scenery like this rather than a dreadful one.  In the picture on the right is the infamous brick road that surrounds the town square and goes down certain roads downtown. I LOVE the brick road.  It gives the town personality and when there was gossip that they were going to get rid of the brick, my heart stopped.  I never want to see the brick road taken out. EVER!

My State

I live in Nebraska. Where Runza was created and where a tiny little star on the American flag represents so much more than just that.  I eat at Runza probably once every two weeks and when we go on vacation out of state or out of the midwest, where Runza doesn't exist, I crave it like crazy!  When I think about Nebraska, the first thing pops in to my mind is Husker football.  There is nothing better than a gameday saturday in Lincoln.  Smelling the tailgating food, the Runza inside the stadium, and the occasional nasty 'nacho burps' from the overweight guy sitting next to you.  Watching the tunnel walk and the 85,000 people go crazy! I love my state, I love my community, I love my school, and I love my home!

Who am I?

When I first asked myself this question, I immediately thought, "Well, I'm Cole Ashby. Duh!" Who else would I be? After reevaluating the question and taking a different perspective, it's a deeper question than meets the naked eye. I think of myself as a student athlete. Student first. I take pride in the hard work and study time I devote to my schoolwork, but I wouldn't be able to sit in that dreadful school without being able to look forward to some sort of athletic practice or competition later!  Athletics is a big part of my life and has almost characterized my life for as long as I can remember! But nothing matters to me as much as my faith. I grew up in a catholic family where we went to church on Sunday and ate breakfast at my grandparents house after. I have been raised to believe in my faith and glorify everything I do to the Man upstairs. 

I am Cole Ashby.  That is the legal name I was given from my parents, Jeff and Heidi.  I was the second of three children and most people that know my family and are around my family might say I am the "favorite child".  I'm not complaining.  My older sister, Jenifer, is 21 and goes to the University of Nebraska-Omaha.  My younger sister, Reagan, is 5 years old and just started kindergarten this past August.  I looked up to my sister, Jen, when I was younger and used to think she was the coolest thing since sliced bread, but then I woke up (just kidding Jen, don't punch me).  That sentence right there pretty much describes Jenifer and I's relationship-tough love.  When we were growing up together, we'd fight and we'd punch each other and we would get super violent, usually after I beat her at volleyball, but that's beside the fact!  But, we do love each other.  We provide each other with advice and she helps me with my schoolwork and I help her with hers.  We study for tests together and we help each other in anyway we can!  Reagan is the brat.  She gets everything she wants after a few cries and whimpers.  I love her to death, though!  Since Jen left for college, Reagan has pretty much been the person I hang out with the most.  I love trying (key word: trying) to teach her how to play sports.  We worked on softball for a good hour one day before her T-ball game, and the next day I got a text from my mom that read, "Reagan just hit off the pitcher and it went to the outfield!"  I've never been so proud of something in my life.  I love being a mentor for someone and knowing that someone looks up to me.  I'm sure a lot of people reading this blog are thinking, "Why is he writing about his sisters in the 'Who Am I?' section of his blog?"  To answer that question, it's because my family has shaped the person I am today. 

I'm a high school senior right now and am having to make some of the hardest decisions of my life right now.  I'm trying to decide where to go to college, who's going to pay for it, what I'm gonna do for the rest of my life, and how to get Reagan to be my roommate for the next four years! I think I have decided on the first one and will be attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, assuming I get accepted.  For the second question, that is where most of my free time will be spent-filling out scholarships.  The third one is something I've wanted to do since the little brat I call my sister was able to walk; I would like to be an elementary teacher.  After helping raise Reagan and teaching her new things, it inspired me and led me in the direction I think I'd like to go for my career path! My dad is someone I've always looked up to and he is a teacher and when I used to go to school with him, it was amazing to watch him have such an impact on so many young kids' lives. He is also a high school football coach and that is definitely something I would like to pursue.  I guess you can kind of say, I'd like to follow my father's footsteps.  The fourth question is kind of a joke, but I do know I'm gonna miss the crap out of Reagan and will be coming back home as much as possible!  As far as the person who I could accredit most of my attributes and accomplishments to, that would be my mother. She has been through it all with me.  From driving me to Lincoln to play baseball at the age of 9 to helping me decide what college I'm going to go to.  She's that woman that whenever I lose something, she knows exactly where I left it last! She's the parent us kids ask first for anything, because she always says yes. Sorry mother, it's true.  She is one of the most caring individuals I have been blessed to be around and I just so happen to get to call her my mom!

Now it's time to get cheesy! I've heard the spiels on high school relationships and I've heard the statistics on how many high school sweethearts actually make it to college and beyond. I could care less about the odds and stats.  What I do care about is the best friend I have gained from meeting my beautiful girlfriend. I was the "cooties" kid who wouldn't get near a girl in elementary school and still thought girls were stupid and annoying until, well, about 8 months ago.  Her name is Connor Fischer.  If we were measuring on a whole inspiration per minute scale, Connor would rank the highest.  I couldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams that a girl I met a mere 8 months ago would have such an impact on me.  She has been such an aspiring woman to me and has truly made me a better person. She has shaped the person I am today and it still amazes me on how the girl with cooties has ultimately made me open my eyes to how one person can really change a life, and to make sure you are nice and courteous to all your peers because God put them in your life for a reason, so cherish them!

When I first got the assignment that my English teacher, the wonderful Dr. English ;), wanted us to write 750 words on the topic, "Who Am I?", I thought she was crazy!  There's absolutely no way I could write 750 words about me.  I just don't like talking about me.  That is why I went in a different direction of talking about my family.  They have been the most inspirational people in my life and I love them to death!  But seriously, WHO FARTED?