All my life I have felt like I'm destined for greatness, and that I'm here for a reason; sounds familiar right? All of us have the same feeling, that we're here to accomplish something super amazing to save the girl or save the world. It's the reason why people get burnt out, overworked, and mentally exhausted. Its the reason we're all pushing each other away, rather than working together to achieve greatness for us all. I believe that if we could all put our hero-complex away, we could look at things with a new, different perspective. We aren't perfect, we are far from it, and it takes a lot to finally step back and evaluate yourself. To see yourself as a person; a person who is scared of the future ending horribly, a person who wants to show good intentions, a person with aspirations, and a person who can't do everything by themselves. Once you feel true helplessness in a situation you're dealing with, you see yourself as that person. Right now, I'm that person. I see myself as someone who can't carry the weight of the world on my shoulders, yet I still try to pick it up piece by piece. Learning to live my life as a person feels difficult; I'm a 19 year old college student with little guidance, and accumulating debt looming over my head. Things are overwhelming, but the only thing keeping me going is thinking of how much there is to learn in my field. I love learning about minerals and rocks, volcanoes, and how the Earth works. I want to teach others about how to conserve our dying Earth (and possibly save it). I have such big aspirations for the future, and what I could do to help other researchers. I believe we can all reach greatness when we work together to try and save our planet, and I want to do everything to be a part of it.

It’s Monday morning, you wake up peacefully and look at your alarm clock, 8:24am. Then to your horror, realize that you slept in and you’re going to be late for work. You quickly rush to get ready, and head out of the door with your keys in hand. The drive to work was awful, some kid in a sports car cut you off, making your morning mood turn sour. Once you get some caffeine in your system, everything will be fine. You pull into the parking lot of that old coffee shop you love, hoping for a hot cup of deliciousness. Entering the building you see there’s a few people in line, a couple sitting at a table, and two baristas. The line moves fairly quickly, and once you get close to paying, you realized you forgot your wallet while rushing out of the house. You apologize to the barista, turn around and begin to walk away in defeat. This day couldn’t get any worse, you think, but suddenly someone yells, “Hey, put their drink on my ticket.” You look up to see the man who was behind you in line, he smiles at you and pays for both of the drinks. You thank him profusely, his kind act brought a little mist to your eyes.“Sometimes it’s the little things in life that matter the most. I hope you have a great day,” The man said, “And enjoy the coffee.” You smiled and walked out of the store, the rest of the day had took a turn for the better because of a simple kind act. This is why I always try to act kindly with any person I come across, because you never know what someone is going through, big or small.

April 17th, 2021 started off as any other day, but this day changed my life and my perception of death itself. The story of my best friend's father passing away has been hard to overcome. I have known Alexandra for almost seven years, and you could say she's my partner in crime. I spent countless nights at their house, eating dinner with them, her dad made the best pizza, and they always made sure we were fed and happy. During the summer, we would drive to the beach for vacation, and they always managed to make me feel comfortable. I felt like part of their family, and her dad, Doug, felt like my other father. In the months prior to the incident, Doug was diagnosed with a heart disease, and needed a triple bypass surgery. Even while visiting him in the hospital, he never showed signs of distress. His heart may have been damaged, but his love for others never died. His surgery went well, and he was still the same old Doug after waking up. He was cracking jokes and smiling, we all thought that everything was okay, we were oblivious to his pain because he hid it so well. Two weeks after surgery, April 16th, 2021, he was getting around well, talking normal, using his humor to push through his recovery. Alexandra invited a few friends over to sleepover and watch movies. The night went smoothly, nothing out of the ordinary at all, we all went to bed later after raiding the kitchen and scrolling through Netflix. When I woke up the next morning, I got up to get my things together and said goodbye to my friends before heading downstairs. When I got downstairs, Doug was sitting at the kitchen table, he wasn't reading the paper or using his phone. He was just sitting at the table, thinking to himself. He noticed me come downstairs and he said, "Oh you're leaving?" I told him I had to go home and run errands with my mom, and I would probably come back later on. The last words he said to me were, "Alright, see you later. Drive safe. Bye." But I didn't know that they were his last words spoken to me at the time. I got home and went out with my mom to look for flowers and other landscaping plants. We finally arrived back home at 11:00am, and I decided to go upstairs to take a nap. I was in my room, laying in my bed, when I got a FaceTime call from my other friend, Lexi. When I answered the phone, she was crying, but I was confused because her phone kept cutting out. I couldn't understand what she was saying until she said, "Doug is dead." She told me to get to Alexandra's house as soon as possible and hung up. I sat in shock for a few moments, then I stumbled down the stairs to tell my parents. The news shocked us all, and I could barely see through my tears on the way to her house. When I pulled into her driveway, the sheriffs department was at her house, and his body was still there. I stayed at her house while the priest prayed over his body, and while the funeral home took his body out of the doors. It was traumatic to say the least. I wasn't normal for days, even weeks. The day of his death, Alexandra had seen many ladybugs surrounding her house, landing on her. She said that her father was trying to communicate with her, and after that day, ladybugs have surrounded my life. It seems coincidental how much I run into ladybugs, or ladybug merchandise. I believe he is trying to spread his love to us, even in his time after death. Doug will always be a part of my life and I will never forget the hardships we had all been through. Death is a very permanent thing, and it took me 18 years to realize it. Doug wrote a letter before he went into surgery, just incase anything happened to him, they found the letter a few days after his death. He was such a great influence on my life, and even in his last moments, he made sure we were filled with happiness and unconditional support. His final sentence wrote, "I don't believe anything really ends, so keep dreaming. -D"