Life Map List

Born in Temple TX.

-Temple is where my grandparents live and my grandfather’s church is. I love and respect the both of them very much.

Lived in Salado TX

-This is where I spent my very early childhood; I have faint memories of this place with the exception of one very visually scarred occurrence. Our house was located at the top of a hill with a creek below.  My younger brother, mother, and I were about to head to town for baseball pictures. We had just sat down in the car when my mother realized that my younger brother had forgot his baseball glove. She ran inside for a short moment to retrieve it. When she was inside, my younger brother climbed into the driver seat and put the car in neutral. As the car started rolling backwards down the hill with the two of us still inside, my mother came out of the house. She tried to catch up to the car but the hill was too steep and the car was now moving too fast. She managed to grab the handle of a door. I can still see her facial expression as she was tossed around like a rag doll back and forth from the door slamming. She was drug down most of the hill because she refused to lose her grip. I grabbed my younger brother and put him underneath a seat of the car. We crashed backwards into the creek. I can still remember the color of the rocks beneath the clarity of the water. My mother still has the scars covering her legs. I always regretted being too young and helpless to do anything.

Lived in Boerne TX

-We moved to Boerne before I started kindergarten. I remained here all the way through high school. There are so many memories from this place to narrow down. To summarize, I grew up in the country. I fell in love with what some call the “hill country”, which Boerne was at the heart of. I played sports all my life. Football was extremely big in this town, especially when my class became seniors in high school because our history breaking season. When you think of a typical Dazed and Confused or Varsity Blues, Texas small town and the high school days portrayed, they are comparable to Boerne. This is where I had my first life experiences. This is where I dated the prettiest, most popular girl in the school. This is where I built a reputation only to be knocked down, but a reputation none the least. This is where I made plenty of bad decisions and learned from mistakes. However, this is also where I experienced great achievements. This is my hometown. This will always be my hometown. I love this place.

Moved to College Station after high school

-My two best friends and I found a house together. The plan was to attend Blinn College and make the grades to transfer to A&M considering that’s where we were raised to go. When we realized the limitless extents of our talent to throw the best, most famous parties, the priority of making the grades began to fade away. This is where I had some of the best, most fun times of my entire life and created memories that will last forever. I went through many relationships here. This is where I first fell in true love. This is where I feel like I abandoned my friends for a relationship that no matter how hard I tried to keep it together, it was destined to fall apart.

Moved to Huntsville

-Although I commuted to Sam Houston State from College Station for a while, the decision to move to Huntsville came upon the graduation of my girlfriend at the time from A&M. We had plans to last for the long run. She found a job as a third grade teacher in Huntsville. I was a horticulture major focusing on landscape design and a mere year and half left to go before graduating. We found a great two-story house in Elkins Lake with a small back yard, two-car garage, fireplace, and a big front porch. We would watch our favorite T.V. shows at the end of the day. We would have family in for the weekends and I would fire up the grill in the backyard while the dogs played. We would take walks down to the lake in the evenings. I enjoyed mowing and yard work on the weekends. Everything seemed to be on the right track. I had a ring picked out and financial arrangements in the making, we were to be engaged.  Like a flawless pane of glass being dropped from a great height, everything seemed to shatter in seconds, for us, a month. What I believed to be untouchable and truly consistent turned out to be a skin covering ugliness underneath. An act, an illusion.  This is that moment that you fall backwards and reach around for something to grab on to but nothing exists. This is where I was suddenly living alone in a town I knew no one, feeling like everything was now pointless. She was in another relationship within weeks. She is now engaged. I still see her car around town from time to time. This is when the decision to study art literally saved my life. This is when art helped me to get back on solid ground again and remember what it was like to stand up.

Lived in Huntsville for coming on 2 years