âI live in Syracuse, Nebraska, small town maybe 2,000 people I work at Menards, married and have two girls, Ashlynn, 8 and Avery 3, they mean the word to meâ¦â And suddenly from behind me came this from his wife Whitney, âYou want to know something great about him, heâs a great dad, he will drop anything anytime to be with and help our girls, a great dad.â
And as I was leaving from Blake, âTake care of all the girls, not just my two little onesâ¦â and then he nodded toward Whitney and smiled.
âHey man, you want a cheese on a stick. Been working now at the concession stand for 14 years, have sold thousands cheese on sticks. Iâm blessed man, I came out the other side, was addicted to Meth, been clean now 2 and a half years but now Iâm happy, healthy, all positive and upbeat, help others now come out the other side, blessed man, Iâm blessed.”
âI own a trucking company, started my own business when I was 19, everyone told me not to that it would fail but I didnât listen, I listened to my heart, knew that if I worked my butt off I could do it no matter what anyone told me, well this year marks our 20th year in that same business, got 9 employees and doing great. Listen to you heart, work hard and listen to your heart, it can be done because Iâm still doing it no matter what people thought.”
âIâm 11 and my favorite thing is art, I love to draw, I love to read too so when I buy books to read when Iâm done I look at the cover of the book and then I freehand draw that cover on a piece of paper but I add stuff to my cover, draw it like it should have been drawn, fix it with what I read in the book, I put the characters and what I think they look like into the covers I draw. I like art, and Karate, art and Karate makes me happy.”
âHis name is Ranger, yeah after the boat, heâs 4 and is a Miniature Schnauzer and he costs $45,000, we take him everywhere, we love him, but when we travel we have to get the dog room in the hotel and every time we do that he pees everywhere in the room so coming here, just a few exits north we stopped and bought a 5th-wheel RV so we donât have to be in the hotel dog room anymoreâ¦$45,000â¦no dog roomsâ¦worth every dime.”
âIâve only been back home here a week or so, spent the last year in Saudi Arabia, Iâm a Captain in the United States Army Field Artillery, was in Iraq in 2008, this time in country I was an advisor to the Saudi Army. Just got back on American soil, how great a country we have, we take a lot for granted here but you know what, we donât have any Kings or Queens or Princes to answer to, we are blessed to live here, not to say anything bad about Saudi, but America we are free, you know what, Iâll tell you this, wherever my feet are standing on American soil I feel like Iâm home, no matter where, I feel free, I feel safe, I feel like Iâm home, thatâs America, if you are an American and your feet on on our soil, you are home.”