One Important Lesson in Life

So, I am sitting here wondering what one important lesson I have learned thus far in my life. There are so many lessons that have been brought upon me, and all of the lessons have impacted my life in one way or another. I could probably sit here for many hours without typing anything just to find that one lesson to write about. As of now, I can probably narrow them all down to about three lessons, and from those thee it will be hard to choose just one.

The one life lesson I would have to consider the most important may not be as important to you as it is to me. I realized that throughout my life from me being a little boy, to being the young man I am now, I have always been told the same thing but just in a different form.

This lesson is to always have faith.

Now you can consider faith to be defined in two distinct ways. The first, it could be defined as having the complete trust in someone or something. Secondly, it may be defined as having a strong belief in God or any religion based on spiritual apprehension. When I first said faith was an important life lesson, I was defining it as both definitions mentioned earlier.

Using faith as confidence.

As many of you may already know, playing sports and being active is a big part in my life. For the athletes out there you know how important it is to have faith no matter what sport you play.

I am going to use myself as an example. Obviously the main sport I have passion for is basketball, and since the first day I picked up a basketball I have always had faith. This past season I had to find as much faith as I possibly could. I had to do this because before the season had started we were receiving a vast amount of negative comments. Literally, everyday people were saying:

“I don’t think the boys will be any good this year. They have no players returning but one, they have no height to play against the other teams, and they’re not going to have players like Jalen, Reshaun, Torrian, or Bryson.”

Yeah, people said that or something similar. Although, I did not let that bother me much. I just built up faith within myself and for my teammates. This was a difficult task to do because you can’t just hand out faith like playing cards. Faith has to come from inside you.

But the faith was not enough for us to have a successful season. I am not saying not having enough faith is the reason we weren’t successful. I’m saying having faith helped the other players and I out a whole lot, especially for myself. If I had not had faith I probably would not have finished the season at all. This is what kept me going day by day from practices to games.

Using faith through spiritual apprehension.

Having a strong belief in God or any form of religion should be greatly valued. I have always had a strong belief in my Native American beliefs and also a strong belief in God. If I had no religion to follow who knows where I would be right now. Believing in my Native American heritage and believing in God helped my life A LOT! Having faith in the spiritual aspects of life opened many doors. Not only did it give me many opportunities, but it also taught me many lessons. So, you can say this is a lesson that opens up many other lessons. Also, having this faith helped me find out who I really am inside. I turned to religion whenever I needed it most. Whenever I was down in the dumps my faith in my religions brought light back to me.

Al in all, having faith is an important lesson for me. I need not say anything more because we all have our own opinions on what “faith” really is.

That Someone...

“You have nothing to prove but to yourself and to the man above.”- Delmar Johnson

That quote has stuck with me throughout my high school year. All my years in high school I have always lived by that quote.

It was a normal day in the gym at basketball practice. We had just gotten done running and my legs felt like they were going to tear apart from the many 2-liners, 4-liners, and 6-liners that we had ran for “conditioning.” In other words, we were running because the team and I had either gotten in trouble or just because the coach wanted to run us. Without a question, we had to run regardless. Anyway, after we were running my coach had his usual talk with us. When he would talk we would call that a preaching sessions because there was no telling of how long the talk would be nor what the talk would be about. But this talk was deeper than most talks that we usually would have. He asked us “what are you going to do after high school?” When he had said that it made me think a lot about my future. Then he began talking about what men we needed to become. That is when he said “you have nothing to prove but to yourself and to the man above.” That moment I will always remember for it taught me many lessons in life thus far. Every time we had a conversation with my coach he always brought up that comment.

If anyone were to meet Delmar they might say something like:

“He’s mean”

“How come he is always yelling at you guys?”

“Your coach seems like a mean guy”

“Your coach seems like an ass”

When I hear people say that I ignore them. I ignore the comments that they make because they don’t know who he really is. The Delmar that everyone sees is a coach coaching his team and wanting to get that victory. They see him yelling and demanding, but they never see the guy that gives advice and wants nothing but to see his players have success.

My coach has been one of my good friends. Not only has he been a great friend but also he’s been an amazing mentor. He has always demanded so much out of me because he sees something in me that I don’t see just yet. He always pushed me in practice to be the best that I can. Out of the gym he is still checking on me even when the season has long been over. He is always asking about my grades, what I’ve been up to, how my family is doing, and many more thoughtful questions not so many people would ask.

In a sense, I pretty much saw him as a father figure in my life. Growing up without a father really makes a difference in somebody’s life. I am glad that I met him. He has made a pretty big impact in my life and he is definitely someone I will not forget. 

The Power of Cherishing..

Cherishing someone is the greatest thing anyone can ever do. Cherishing your family and friends will always remind them you deeply care for them. It is another way to send them your love. Some of them may receive the love for a lifetime, and others will receive it in a shorter time span. All in all, no matter who we choose to cherish will all receive some measure of our love.

The ones we cherish will always live in our hearts. They live within our hearts because they have become a part of us.

But, at an unexpected moment we lose the most cherished. Losing them in any situation is always heartbreaking. They may leave our lives because they had chosen to go down a path another path without you, or in another situation, God chose to take way sooner then you had ever expected. Losing them is the hardest part in our lives where we feel helpless, useless, and above all lonely.

We feel mixed emotions and go through different phases we do not realize are happening to us. We go through numerous amounts of thoughts of what could have been done, and there are also all of the thoughts of wondering why. Why? Why did it have to happen so soon? Why did it have to happen to me? Well, all of that is beyond our control.

Reading this you may be having flashbacks. You may be thinking of the people who have left your life. Millions of memories may be flashing through your mind. All of the happy and all of the bad times that you had with them is only making you miss them more. You are not alone.

Lately I have been thinking of a family member who had passed away of cancer. My grandfather was a great man. He stepped in as my father figure when my dad had passed away a couple short months before I was born. My grandfather had always been there when I needed him. He always took care of me and always made sure I was always happy. With all of them times that we spent together we always enjoyed each other’s company.  Overall, he just always put my sister and me first before everything else. He had so much love for us. I do miss him dearly, but I have to move on. If I continue to mourn he would be disappointed that I still miss him. He would tell me:

 “Brandon, I’m okay. Stop thinking of me and worry more on your school, sports, and taking care of your grandma, mother, and sister. I am in a better place and I’m always watching over you. You can’t continue to think about me. There are times to mourn and other times it is not necessary.”

Although his death came unexpectedly, it helped me come to the realization that nobody can live forever. They can only be remembered through memories and live within our hearts by the love we have for them. So, anyone worth your love, cherish them because they may not be there forever. 

Dealing With Something Negative

Attitudes! What an awful emotion that human beings have! It could be compared to a terrible disease that is easily caught. It can be brought upon someone unexpectedly and would definitely change someone’s personality, turning them into someone they do not know. This can happen for an extended amount of time or for a shorter.

With attitudes it is just something people have to deal with one way or another. Sometimes we are stuck in the middle of things and do not know how to get out of certain satiations. These types of people that we have to deal with are, in other words, Negative Nancys. It can only take one person to bring someone’s self esteem down to a lower level. Sometimes we want to push away these types of people who bring the negative atmosphere into the settings because with them and their negativity. With the negative atmosphere that is brought from them is like having a little purple monster yelling and tugging on you. Yeah, that’s how annoying sometimes it can be at times.

 How is attitude brought upon someone? I guess nobody ever knows how or why attitudes strike on people. Sometimes the striking happens unexpectedly. Let’s say you’re walking down the street with an ice cream cone, and as you are walking someone bumps into you and makes you get the ice cream onto your black shirt. Of course you would be mad about it because you did not expect it and that is where the attitude comes out from and makes you into a negative mood. All unexpectedly, you did not plan on being in that set of environment for yourself but you somehow end up having an attitude.

Sometimes people plan to have attitudes. Yeah everyone plans on being an ass at one point or another. Mainly girls; girls would do anything to be noticed, even if that means they have to be a pain in the butt. When they act like this they know guys do not like it. Females are basically a step ahead of guys. If the guy is the type that will baby them and do anything to keep them happy then the girl would pull a random attitude just do get the guy to buy them something, or have the guy do what they want them to do.  That is how attitudes can be planned.

It is pretty dumb that people plan on being in a negative mood but also do it for their own reason. On the other hand, it all happens unexpectedly. In a way, all of the negativity that some people would bring a balance because not everyone can be happy, happy, happy, all the time.

A Break Up?

So, without a doubt, all of us can say we have all had our hearts broken at least once by someone. Or on the other hand, we could have been the individuals who have been the heart-breaker. Tsk tsk. You should be ashamed for breaking all those innocent hearts. No I’m just messing around, but it is true that we all had a broken heart once in our lives.

One of your first broken hearts may have been in at a young age. Perhaps in the third grade when you couldn’t play on the seesaw with the pretty girl with pigtails, or play tag all around the playground with the pretty girl in the dress. Yeah those were the good old’ days when we got over the coodies stage and stepped up to wanting to pick on the crush we had to pretend we disliked them. We did all that just because we wanted to spend more time with them, but that was nothing much of a break up.

Another type of break up may have been in Jr. High. Those are the grades when a boy becomes a man and a girl becomes a lady. It is also the time when couples start doing stuff their parents would not be proud of. Yeah, I remember them days like they were yesterday, NO, I’m just playing again. But, I would have to say it is the times to experience kisses and holding hands. You know? The whole X’s and O’s gig. So, we are all happy to experience all of the X’s and O’s with our girlfriends and then we get the break up talk or text. It all begins with the scary words of “we need to talk,” or “can I talk to you.” Yikes! But, I would have to say that Junior High kids take break ups very badly than any other age group. They cry and cry about it. It even gets to the point to where they hurt themselves. Do you really have to hurt yourself over a break up at such a young age? Come on now.

Then, there are the high school break ups. In high school relationships, things may be taken a little more serious and others are not so similar. Some relationships happen for no reason, others are planned. So high school is pretty much going with the unexpected with all the relationship things. When everything ends, that is something to worry about more than anything else. High school breakups can be hilarious and it sometimes can get too serious. You will have the break ups where people will blame one another for no reason and then fight will be breaking out. So that turns into a big mess. Also, you’ll have the girls, no offense, that’ll make up random rumors just to make themselves look like they’re not hurt, not aggravated, and make it seem like they were the one who did the break up. So in addition, high school is all filled with drama and more drama.

That, I can say, is a breakdown on what I see break ups are come to be.  

 

Meeting Someone New (:

When I first met my friend Gus, I was very excited. He was just a small puppy that was six weeks old.  A small little puppy: short legs, white fur, and pretty jumpy. It was a night when I was bringing a new member into our house, and also into our family. I did not know I was going to choose him out of his sisters and his brothers. But, I knew right away I was going to choose him the moment he came trotting to me wanting to play. As I bent over to pet him he began to play with my hand.

“I want him, I know he’ll be playful,” I told Sam.

 At that moment I knew I wanted to take him back with me. From that moment on there has been a strong connection between the two of us. He slept very calmly in my lap on the way to my house. Although it was a pretty long drive back from the land lost in time, Woodruff.

I’ve always wanted a little brother, and that night God answered my prayers.

The first night he stayed he was very curious. He was sniffing everything he came in contact with. He roamed up and down the hall sniffing the floor and the walls. Then I put him onto my bed so he could recognize where he will be sleeping. He was walking up and down my bed sniffing away; sniffing my pillows, sniffing my blankets, and sniffing my stuffed penguin. Just sniffing like there was no tomorrow. Then he squatted and went pee. My goodness, I couldn’t get mad because he was just a puppy and didn’t know. So I just said “oh Gus,” and cleaned up his mess. That first night I will always remember.

Day after day Gus and I were together. He would follow me when I would get up. He’d wait outside as I would go to the restroom. When I would eat dinner, Gus would sit between my feet. At other times he would lie down and go to sleep.  

As he began to grow older he also began to get bigger. Also, Gus began to get naughtier. All he wants to do is play, play, play. He would want to play early in the morning by jumping on me, licking my face, and biting my ears. He would run like six laps around our couch, then run down to the end of the hall then make his way running back. As he would run he would howl at times. Sometimes he would he would stumble down the hall while he ran.  

At nights he always comes jumping on my bed. Throughout the night he’ll snuggle up on me, lie on my back, lay between my legs, and move to different ends of my bed. He’s the type that likes attention and if you’re feeling lonely he’ll come to you and make you feel like you are the number one person in the world. Even if he does not know you he will make it seem like you’ve been friends forever. He is always excited to meet new people. He’ll run all over the place and jump on your legs. Gus is just a very welcoming dog.

I can go on and on about my best friend. Give you all of the details of what he likes and what he does not like. I can tell you all of his physical traits of what he looks like, but that will take forever to do because I can go forever talking about him. I can say I love my best friend. I am very glad I have a little brother.

The Ending...

As we all grow up we have a particular activity that we follow. The activity that we put all our heart into, all the time necessary in becoming better, and literally all of the blood, sweat, and tears that go into the activity. All of it comes to an end at one point or another. How do we deal with this kind of ending story? Well, it all depends on the person. The person who has been one hundred percent dedicated will either take it badly or just take it as it is.

In other words, this is manly directed to any athlete playing a sport. It does not matter if the sport is cheerleading, chess, wrestling, jump rope, or basketball. Anything you consider a sport is a sport. We all love a sport to the point where we would do anything just to play.

Some play the sport for a lifetime, and others play for a shorter amount of time. But equally they all love the sport dearly.

With my story, well it is a chapter in my life that I will cherish forever. It is the most memorable and also the longest. I first picked up a basketball when I was in the fifth grade. My friend told me to play with him on a youth basketball team and said it would be fun. So, from then on I played basketball basically everyday. Since the first day of picking up a basketball I have played maybe more than a thousand games. A thousand games I have played ranging from little league to the big boys, high school basketball. Many memories were made just from a simple sport and many friends were made from the sport. The sport took many places. I’ve been all over the Navajo Nation, all over Arizona, and visited other states as well just playing the sport I love.

Not only has basketball brought me cherishing memories, it has taught me some life lessons. Life lessons of taking responsibility, becoming a man, and to do everything one hundred percent and always work hard.

Sadly, my basketball career came to an end. Playing my last high school basketball game was one of the hardest games I have ever played. Some of you reading might be thinking “Why was it hard? You can go to the park to play a game or go to the gym anytime and play.” Well it would not be the same. It won’t be the same because there is nothing to play for now. All of the years I’ve been playing I’ve played for a reason, but now that we are not in the playoffs or regional tournament there is nothing else to play for. My last home game was the most difficult because it was my last time playing somewhere I enjoyed and somewhere I felt comfortable. But that last game I could not stay focused. I missed all of my shots. I missed like three three-pointers, an easy lay up, and I had a few turnovers.  All that was on my mind was how would by boys do next year when us seniors are gone. Who will be there to watch over them on and off of the court? Who else is going to push them into playing harder? The whole game I was manly focused on them and began to keep having flashbacks on my four years playing on that court.

Then finally, the fourth quarter had ended and the buzzard went off. With this buzzard it was very different. IT continued to echo, and while it echoed it took me back to when I first started playing basketball for Holbrook. All of the memories of wearing a Holbrook jersey ran through my mind in a split second. There was nothing more I could do then just cry. A burst of uncontrollable tears ran down my face. After four years of playing high school basketball it had ended and seemed as if the four years were only a year. My heart was truly saddened that it had ended, that we could not go to regionals or state playoffs. Because we knew we deserved to be there as one of the top ten teams in the state, but to come up far short of that was the saddest…

Now the only thing to do is play basketball for enjoyment and to stay I shape, I will always love the sport no matter what. I will never forget the journey I took to get this far in the sport.

But everything has to end, that is why they call it The Ending…

Sometimes You Do the Unexpected

       Growing up I was always told to expect the unexpected. The saying of "expect the unexpected" I can say I grew up with.

 

       When you do something unexpected you shock everyone who witnesses it and most of all you shock yourself. The moment of fame for a short amount of time or for the time of eternity will forever stay with you no matter what. The unexpected will always be a highlight of the day or the night. The unexpected will always be the bee's knees, the "ka" to the "boom," and the sugar to the candy. Are you questioning why? Well, because it is unexpected you silly goose. :)

     

       The unexpected can come from all angles of the world, more or less, the universe! In general, the unexpected can come from anything as well. For instance, you may be talking a peaceful walk through the park minding your own business. The day is perfect: sunny day, scattered clouds, warm air, families are having picnics on the green grass, and dogs are chasing each other. Then out of nowhere something drops onto your head. You feel the top of your head and it is wet and pullying your hand to your face you notice it is bird poop. Of all things to happen on a perfect day you get pooped on by a bird who was probably doing some target shooting on people. Sad day by the unexpected. 

 

       Now something like that definitely is unexpected. Some of the unexpected happens in positive ways and others happens in negatives. In a way, all of us want things in positive ways but sadly they happen in nagatives in some cases.

 

       Luckily for me I was fortunate enough to experience both ends of it. Just to clarify things I am referring to basketball. All of you know that the varsity boys basketball team is not seeing unicorns and rainbows. We are struggling so much that it is unbelievable to talk about our record. Blah! But this was a huge negative that has hurt the players and the coaches. None of us were expecting to have a more ugly season than we are now. I guess that is why they say expect the unexpected.

 

       On the bright side of things, there are always the positives that everyone sees. For me it happened when I made three pointers or had steals. First and far most no one expected me to be shooting three pointers! That definitely put sparks into people eyes. Another highlight that stads out the most, that nobody expected was Friday night. The night I blocked Reggie Peterson. Reggie can be compared to a big bear, full grown man that stood as tall as Bigfoot. On the court he stood taller than most guys with their hands held up. But I, a 5'7" short Native American blocked a beast. A clean block that nearly went to half court. A block that made my friends jump out of their seats and cheer at the top of their lungs. A block that nobody in the gym was expecting. Just a few days earlier I had told one of my teammates that I was going to block Mr. Reggie Peterson in a joking manner but I was not expecting to actually do it! In the back of my mind I keep telling myself to expect the unexpected but that game night it not occur to me that I was going to be the unexpected.

 

       Expecting the unexpected is definitely something anyone can relate too. Wise words I am passing down to you because you never know; you might get pooped on by a bird or you might see a short basketball player block a giant.

 

      Sometimes you do the unexpected...

 

Not Every Cloud Can Block Out the Sun...

Have you ever had them days where everything seems to crash down on you? No matter how hard you try to keep your legs from giving out to keep you from collapsing the universe continues to throw more and more weight on your already fatigue body.  It feels as if your world is overshadowed by a thick cloud of darkness that blocks out the ever shining sun. The brightest light, the resource that all life relies on, and you cannot see it because the universe is against you. It's as if the universe was walking and it stubbed it's pinky toe on the leg of the couch, and the universe chose you to be the one that has to suffer the agonizing pain... Have you ever experienced a sickening day like that, or something worse?
Yeah? Well you are not the only one. Many of us out in the world go through the same thing, some of us experience something far beyond then what we can handle, and others do not experience this at all. I myself always find myself under the magnify glass of the universe running for dear life trying not to be incinerated. I feel like I am the one who is being punished for the wrong doings of my surroundings. Somedays I wonder why that I am the one to go through the suffering. In some cases I regret getting out of bed. Those days are always my worse and always hide behind a fake smile.
All of the dawn falls seem to happen like a continuous domino effect. Right after another. What does someone do in a situation like this? More or less, how does something like this happen? Could it have happened because of the lost family you had lost, and everything seems negative through your eyes. Could it have been the financial problems that you endure because you'd rather think about your younger sisters and you mother and be the man of the house. Maybe it is the struggle that you are going through in your basketball season. Or perhaps it could be the ex girlfriend you continue to think about and wonder "What happened?"  Everything seems negative when you are walking under a rain cloud.
But not every cloud can block out the sun. This is just a time where you choose to pick yourself up to continue the fight, or where you continue to be passive and accept everything as it is. Obviously, majority of the people get up and dust themselves off and strive to do everything possible to see the sunlight once again. The struggles and hard times you are put through only makes you a stronger person then you once were before. This allows you to reach out to the people that truly matter to you. The universe is only shoeing you that you are never alone.
Reaching out to people may be hard, but the people who are always there for you are FAMILY. Family is the best thing for everyone. There is an infinite amount of love in family that is not stingy to hand out it's love. All it takes is the effort to make them apart of your own life. The family is protection, the family is the comfort hug, family is the medicine when we are sick, family is everything. Who you decide to include in your family relies on you. Best friends? Of course they are family. Best friends are the family away from family. Best friends are the shoulders to cry on. Best friends are the venting box you tell your secrets, your struggles, and dreams. Once you have the very special best friend, your soul mate you want in your life, that is your best part of family. The soul mate is the partner in crime that will forever love you no matter what difficulties are thrown at you. But family is everywhere. It is all a matter of picking yourself up and finding the sun shine beyond the clouds.
Not every cloud blocks out the sun. Through the good times and the bad, there is always sunlight in the darkest areas. Even if the darkest place is within yourself.
Not Every Cloud Can Block Out The Sun..