After three weeks my project was finally finished.  The final product that I’ve been working so hard to achieve.  The jet ski of my dreams.  Everything I had ever wanted and then some.
         For years I’ve been driving one of my dad’s old jet skis.  It was a brute original 1986 Kawasaki JS440 with the original red, blue, and white Kawasaki decals.  The ski had treated me well and done everything that I’ve ever asked of it.  After many summers of fun on the ski, the thought of having to choose to give up my first jet ski was like receiving a punch to the gut.
         It was the summer of 2012 and the time had finally come when my dad told me that, “It’s time for you start looking for a new ski Alec.  All of the jumping and tricks that you’ve been doing on the 440 is causing the hull of the jet ski to crack.” 
          When I heard this I was so shocked that I looked like a deer in the headlights of a car.  Suddenly all of the good and bad memories I had on the jet ski came flying back to me.  I remembered the first time I drove the jet ski and I fell and hit my head on the hood and my dad had to swim out and rescue me from the savaged sea of waves.  I remembered my first experiences in the waves of Lake Michigan at our family cottage that hooked me to jet skiing like a fish on a hook.   All there was for me to respond to my dad was, “Okay, it will be cool to get a new jet ski.”
          After weeks of searching and not being able to find anything I wanted in my price range, my dad came to me with a offer to build a custom ski.  He offered, “Alec I’ve been seeing many empty hulls for sale and I already have an engine just sitting in the garage, that you can have if you decide you want do a custom build.”  I hesitated at first because although it would be much cheaper to do this, I knew that it was going to take many hours of hard work to complete this build.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to say when my dad added in, “You’ll be able to build exactly what you want instead of somebody else's version of what you want.”
            This finalized my decision for me and I told him, “That will work out well since I’ll be able to get exactly what I want.”  Less than a week went by and we had already found a hull that we bought from a guy out in Brighton to use for the build.  My first sight of the hull made me question my decision.  It was covered in dirt, all scratched up, and had a chunk of fiber glass missing out of one of the corners.  With a vision of the final product in my head I responded without thinking “We’re already going to do a lot of work, there can’t be any harm in doing a little bit more.”
           Once we returned home the project began, we had to take apart the engine and fix anything that needed to be fixed or replaced.  When the hours of tearing apart, replacing parts, and putting back together were complete, it was finally time to prepare the hull for the engine.  Spending all of this time with my dad working on this jet ski reminded me of all of the times we spent together when I was little building legos together.  I also remembered in art class in seventh grade making clay sculptures when we were repairing the hull.
            The time had come the jet ski was complete and in one piece.  As I tightened the last bolts I was nervous but couldn’t wait to take a step back and see the final product.  Would this jet ski be everything I wanted?  Was this a big waste of time? Would I be able to easily do the tricks that I could do on the other ski or would I have to relearn everything I’ve taught myself in the previous year.
          The last of the bolts were tight and I stepped back and took a look at the final product.  The shine of the jet ski instantly filled my mind with joy and brought all of my memories of major achievements so far in life flooding back to me.  I remembered my graduation from elementary school when my whole family was there to see me pass on to the middle school. I remembered when I learned how to successfully wakeboard and waterski.  The jet ski was even better than I expected. Its new shiny red paint matched the fresh black paint on the engine.  It looked perfectly.  I now had this jet ski build imprinted into my mind as a successful event in my life.
           At his very moment, I realized the meaning of hard work.  If you worked hard enough, you could achieve anything you wanted.  I had successfully built a jet ski that was out of my budget for a fraction of the cost and many hours of hard work.  Learning this value has helped me in many areas of my life, getting good grades in school, or even doing good at work.   All I had to do was to work hard and I could be successful at almost anything I set my mind to.