“If I Try Hard Enough, I Can Do Anything”

As a young boy beginning my first day of grade school, I was excited but frightened at the same time. You see this would be my first experience away from my parents or grandparents. The school building seemed so big and had so many doors and hallways. My mother tried to console me by walking me to my classroom to meet my first teacher. I was frightened and visibly upset to see my mother leave me. After a couple of hours into my first day of school, my father who was an over the road truck driver and hadn’t seen me leave home earlier that morning, stopped by the school to see how my first day was going. Wow, was I happy to see him! Although frightened and upset I had no intentions of letting him leave without me. Needless to say, my first day of grade school became my first half day of grade school. Through all the emotions and tears, I neglected to observe the school motto, but apparently my parents noticed. The next morning while preparing to to to school my mother kept telling me, “If you try hard enough, you can do anything”. Well on my second day of school as I walked in with a feeling a little more at ease, I noticed on nearly every wall a single phrase that stuck with me from that point. The school motto read, “If I try hard enough, I can do anything.”

From that day forward I began to believe that single phrase. I was my parents first child of two and by the time I turned seven years old, my little sister was born. In the beginning the thought of having a little sister was frightening. However, I soon got over it. I simply reflected back to the phrase, “If I try hard enough, I can do anything”. With my newly found confidence, I decided to meet all challenges head on . I was a very good student and excelled in all my classes through grade school and middle school. My parents worked hard and I set out to make