This summer was hard to say the least. Physically, spiritually and emotionally I was pushed to my limit. I worked my first full time job at a factory, where I was on my feet from 7 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon. Then most days right after work before I would even come home, I would have to workout for soccer. I could never wait until later in the evening because then my body would realize how tired it was and so I tried to get the work out done while I was still numb from work. The first couple weeks of work my feet ached more than they have ever before. I had to wear steeled toe boots with metatarsals strapped on to them as well. At my job I pushed around a cart and collected parts (it was an axle factory). Once I had my parts collected I would create either a box or set up a skid depending on how big of an order I had. My orders ranged anywhere from 2 small bolts that I would just throw in a bag up to having to lift 75 pound boxes, 50 pound hubs or 50 pound springs. Each day I would leave drenched in sweat. After a couple weeks though my body adjusted to constantly being on my feet and I became stronger so the physical work wasn't so bad. However it was around the beginning of July when we had some management shifts and things pretty much went downhill from there. The month of July dragged on and I couldn't wait to be done. (That's all I'll say about that).
Emotionally this was a tough summer too. This spring my grandma and grandpa Hamlin moved into a nursing home. My grandma had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and things were getting hard for them to live on their own. I got to visit with them a few times, (not nearly as much as I should have) and while they seemed to being okay whenever I visited them, I think the hardest part of all of it, is seeing the tole it has been taking on my dad. He went to see them almost every day it seemed and when he was at home he has had a lot of paperwork to take care of as well. My grandma has gotten progressively worse and so my dad and his brothers and sister have had to take on more and more responsibilities in helping my grandparents out. It's been really hard seeing my grandma get worse and seeing how much my dad and uncles and aunt have to help my grandparents. I just feel blessed though watching my dad go through all of it because it just shows how great of a person he is to be so caring toward my grandparents. I hope that once my parents get to the point where they can't take care of themselves that Chris and I will be as willing and loving to step in and help them because my parents have done so much for us as we've grown up.
My grandpa Ruzbasen also has gotten pretty sick this summer. A couple weeks ago we got a call that he was in the hospital. We found out he has lung cancer. He was in the hospital for several weeks going through chemo and radiation, It's really hard to see this part of the family because they live around 3 hours away but my family did make it up to see him while he was in the hospital. He was in better spirits than I was expecting to find him but he wasn't looking real great. After some rehab he was able to go home but I'm pretty worried about him.
All in all I learned that getting old just sucks. It definitely taught me to appreciate the phase of life I am in now. (Even when I am dying from working 8 hours a day and then working out)
Even though this summer was a rough one, it did have quite a few good memories. At the beginning of the summer (before the mosquitoes became flesh eating superbugs) I enjoyed bonfires almost every weekend and created some great memories with great friends. I did my first color run, and then spent the next 3 weeks finding sparkles in my hair. Then a week before the 4th of July I found out I had that entire week off of work so on a Thursday my mom and I booked a plane for two days later and so Saturday we were able to join all my aunts and cousins down in Florida for an awesome relaxing week of fun in the sun.
Now my summer is over and preseason for my second year of soccer at Spring Arbor is about to begin. I can't wait to see what this year has in store for me!
