Just figure it out

Spacing between the rows in the vineyard was questioned. I didn't
let not having a tape measure stop me from trying to figure it out!

Life has thrown a lot of curve balls my way. I very easily could have just given up and accepted that this was how my life was meant to be. But instead I just figured it out, moved forward, became even more independent, hard headed and stronger. Well, it seems like it has all paid off. What a sweet ride my life has been. I never imagined my life would be so great.

My childhood:

I grew up in Wisconsin in a lower to middle income class family. My parents divorced when I was a few years old. A couple years later my mother met a wonderful man, Bob, who she married and who later adopted my brother and me. My last name changed from Aleskowitz to Rochester. I met my biological father, Ben, when I was in a freshman in high school. Now I am lucky to have two really cool dads.

I was the first on my mother's side of the family to graduate college. I began working when I was just a young child, probably between the ages of 6-10, at my grandparent's bowling alleys: Showboat North and Showboat South. I cleaned shoes, helped oil the lanes, rang up customers at the register and even helped out by being the flashlight shiner for moonlight bowling. My grandpa taught me how to count back change, making sure all the bills lined up the same way in the register. It's still something I do to this very day.

My parents always encouraged me to try new things: I was a figure skater, dancer, basketball player, softball player, saxophone and viola player in the band, show choir singer, volleyball player, soccer player, artist and more. They both worked full time and somehow managed to make it to whatever extra curricular activity I was involved in at the time. They supported me, nurtured me and cared for me. They never gave up on me or my brother.

When I look back at my childhood, I am just so thankful that my parents challenged me to be the best person I could be. They let me make mistakes and learn from them. They punished me when they were really bad mistakes of course, but I learned. I learned that I have potential to do great things. As Mark Speckman, Head Football Coach of Willamette University Bearcats, said today at the Oregon is Home Luncheon, "Figure it out." Mark Speckman didn't let being born without hands stop him from playing and coaching football. He just figured it out. So next time you feel like you cannot do something, take a minute and just figure it out.