Playing in the sand with his brother mowing the lawn, my dad was well entertained by the sand sifting through his grip, when he heard the sound of a rock in the lawn mower, and as he looked up to see what had happened, the rock he had heard was careening from the mower, and smashed into his eye. Feeling the sharp pain he ran to the front of the house to the front door. His mother heard his blood curdling scream and took him to the hospital and his brother never stopped mowing.

His family was in a demanding place during hard economics. They knew that they needed to work hard to overcome their problems. His family was taught that they would always work, and have to do a good job and do it quickly just to live in this world. My dad has come out of that mentality, but he grew up that way, and when a job needs being done, he gets it done.

My dad had me get my family from our house to our grandparents’ house in Orem, Utah. He had to help me a lot with the planning, but he said, “When we get to the airport I won’t be helping you anymore.” When we walked into the airport I knew I would have to get our tickets by myself, and given that I was already uneasy, the smell of the over-cleaned airport made me feel like I was going to vomit right then and there. When we walked up to the counter my dad had me do all the talking.
Being a hard worker, my dad usually is excitable about projects around the house. One morning he eagerly asked, “Jimmy, will you help me with a new project in the back.”

“Sure, what are we doing?” I mumbled.

“We are going to dig out a place for a garden,” he mumbled back mockingly. That day he had me pulling up sod that made a thudding crackle as you pulled it away from its deep roots. On Saturday he pulled up in my grandpa’s truck, full of dirt with added nutrients. With me pushing a squeaky wheelbarrow and him shoveling the dirt into it, we had the patch in the back ready for planting within an hour.

Now we have a garden that we get a lot of fruit and vegetables from, that we all love to eat. My dad has always been a hard working example in my life, making sure that I know what I am doing. Even though he is blind in one eye, he is still the best worker I know. When it comes down to it, I know that my dad is self-motivated, and I have been placed into that mold, where people expect me to work as well as my dad.
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