A Writer's Journey Part XVII
Title: A Writer’s Journey
Part XVII
Have you noticed in American culture, that we are becoming
so divided that we like or hate an idea or concept depending on who espoused
it! If you are a Democrat and Donald
Trump said, “The sky is blue,” it seems like you might ask, “But is it
really?” If you are a Republican and
Hillary Clinton said, “The sunset is pretty,” you might ask, “But was it
really? Did you even see a sunset?” We have become extremely divided as a
culture. So when Hillary Clinton wrote,
“It takes a Village” the Republican side immediately viewed it as a prelude to
turning America
Take my daughter, Autumn Essigmann. She tested up for varsity track as a seventh
grader on my urging. (It was a very good
decision on my part! I don’t always make
the right call as a parent but that was a good one! Modified track can be a great experience too
but Autumn flourished as a Varsity athlete!)
The gate keeper was Mr. Davis (JT physical education teacher) and
although he is tough and fair, he will also give you advice on how to pass the
test... if you are smart enough to listen to him. I have come to him often and said, “Mike, I
have a girl that needs to test up, but she struggles with X or Y.” He is extremely knowledgeable and will
patiently breakdown how to overcome that barrier. I think we as people want a gatekeeper in our
lives who is tough but fair. One who
will fail you if that is what you deserve but who can also give you knowledge
to pass even the most impossible test!
Autumn passed!
Of all her events, Autumn became good at pole vault right
off the bat! I didn’t realize this at
the time but pole vaulters need incredible upper body strength. America Ninja Warrior “Jessie Graff” said
that she felt that being a high level pole vaulter made her a more excellent
“Ninja” on the show (American Ninja)! Other
successful female “ninjas” on the show have also been pole vaulters as
well. Some of that is stability and
control but some of that is also raw strength.
Going into Autumn’s ninth grade season we built a program called “The
Arrow Program” to build strength.
The Arrow program (one area of this program was 90 sit ups and 10 pull
ups a day:) did help but we needed an expert.
JT High School has one... Scott Helgeland. He teaches an elective on weight lifting and
Autumn signed up for it that year. She
was hooked and has grown to respect Mr. Helgeland very much! Autumn has become very powerful! In the first year of the Arrow program she
hated push ups and now she does them like it is no big deal. Mr. Helgeland also impacted her life (and the
life of our community) by having a vision to upgrade our school’s gym. He held a fundraiser to buy new equipment,
spent hours getting buyers for all the old equipment, and guided the purchase
of very nice machines! One of them was
like it was made for Autumn! It is a
machine that let’s you do several variations of pull-ups with a clever
assistance device, as necessary. It is
Autumn’s favorite machine! Autumn is
very powerful and I think Scott has a lot to do with that! She is my primary thrower (shot and discus),
my pole vaulter, and yet she is fast enough to sprint the 100 hurdles! Autumn has taken his elective every year
since and she still listens to him very closely as she tries to reach her
goals!
Every athlete needs someone to care about their career and
Mr. Barnes at JT fits that bill well!
Autumn liked him when she had him in 10th grade as a teacher
but he still asks how she is doing in athletics. He doesn’t just ask that when she does
something great like break the school record or win a sectional patch, but even
when she is in regular season... or in a slump.
We all need a Mr. Barnes, that even when we just pass them daily in life
on our way to somewhere else, they give us that little encouragement to keep
going! Mr. Barnes can often bring a
smile to Autumn’s face (and other students as well) as he briefly talks to her
in the hallway. She looks forward to
telling him if something big happens in her life because he’s there every day
for her!
Autumn did Indoor Track this year and for once didn’t have
her dad as a primary coach. She did
great under their teaching! Mike
DeGaetano and Damian DeMarco are coaches I had respect for as opponents but my
respect has grown to much higher levels as they have coached my daughter last
season! They helped fix several problems
she had in events I’m not as skilled at AND helped her grow as a person! Mike DeGaetano gave Autumn the best advice
she’s ever gotten from a coach! One day
she was really struggling and paused to talk to him. He looked at her and said, “Autumn, I think
your body knows what to do as a pole vaulter but you are too tense! Relax, hang out with the other kids, and have
fun vaulting!” Autumn went from a crummy
warm up to an amazing night where she electrified the pole vault. A pole vaulting expert was there that night
that Autumn knows and he was like, “Autumn, you are doing great tonight!” That day was one of the most valuable in Autumn’s
entire career as a track athlete!
“Rockback”, Autumn’s summer pole vaulting club, deserves
some major credit! Coach Andrew Fetzner,
Coach “G”, and Coach “Ten Pack” (Autumn’s nickname for him) have vastly
improved Autumn. Autumn has wonderful
skills that she has learned and her success vaulting can easily be attributed
to this high level program, where she feels welcome, and vaults with other
great female vaulters! These men have
spent several summers building into Autumn and have even helped her during the
regular season when they can! I have
started taking new vaulters up to Rockback and they love it too!! It is a great program!!
Grandma Card. Grandma
Card has bought Autumn TWO pole vault poles, even when she wasn’t the ace of
the base and offered to help pay for special pole vault instruction! Mom Card has spent hours driving her to
practice here and there and sending money to cover gas, lessons, and food. Some years she sends more, some less, BUT it
is always appreciated!!! Autumn couldn’t
have gotten where she was without her! I
remember a really good vaulter’s parents (a vaulter Autumn looked up to on a
different team) complaining that their daughters college had lousy poles. I thought, “Then go buy her one!” But that is easy for me to think. I didn’t buy Autumn her poles:)
Other Coaches. Autumn
really appreciates other coaches in the league!
When she got her indoor track sectional patch, Autumn ran off to find
Coach Walch and Lyzz (a father, daughter coaching team for Avoca) to share her
big news! Mr. Lyons (Addison Coach) saw
her helping out at a cross country meet and went out of his way to thank Autumn
for running a pole vaulting clinic that some of his vaulters benefited
from! Having quality men and women in
the league that not only represent your competition BUT also people who respect
the sport and athletes that work hard is important. Sometimes your biggest complements and best
praise comes from coaches of other programs!
The Lord. Autumn has
a pastor for a dad, so church is not optional for her, and yet she has grown in
this area. I have noticed that the Lord
has grown in her life, from basic truth to personal God! All things flow from God, good or evil. We always like the good things and grit our
teeth when bad times come. Autumn has
had plenty of bad times in track due to injury, sickness, or even surgery! She’s had times where she has come in second
at sectionals even when she was the top dog in her class and one of the top ten
in Section V! She has learned to accept
what the Lord has for her and begun to develop a deep relationship with
him. I often tell people, “God is not my
imaginary friend, he’s quite real! He is
where my joy comes from!!” I’m so happy
Autumn is finding him too!! He’s her
creator, the very author of life itself!!
As an author, my journey has rested on so many people,
especially as a self-published author! I
don’t have a massive press behind me... a myriad of humans making me look
good! Probably the biggest figure in my
writing journey (besides the Lord) has been my wife (and she is also an
invisible influence in Autumn’s track career too!!) Gail could have crushed my writing career
before it started. It has cost us money
and time, two precious commodities to any wife.
Yet she has sacrificed this and has been rock solid behind me. Gail is aware that I might not “make it” in
the worldly sense and she is at peace with that. She knows that in this life I may never be
compensated financially for my writing or become famous but she is looking for
a different city and a different reward.
A city whose builder and maker is God!
That is a godly woman and that is the reason if you have EVER been
blessed by my writing, you can thank her:)
So many others have helped!! My mother has been a constant and very honest teacher as one of the editing team. Mrs. Foos (retired English teacher) has also been a huge help getting book after book ready for market. Jonathan Myers who gave me my shot and helped me with my comic book company:) My sister Faith, who is a great writer too, has been a big help! All of my fans have been a huge help! Some of you will never know what a difference that little bit of encouragement helped me make it farther in my writer's journey!!
So many others have helped!! My mother has been a constant and very honest teacher as one of the editing team. Mrs. Foos (retired English teacher) has also been a huge help getting book after book ready for market. Jonathan Myers who gave me my shot and helped me with my comic book company:) My sister Faith, who is a great writer too, has been a big help! All of my fans have been a huge help! Some of you will never know what a difference that little bit of encouragement helped me make it farther in my writer's journey!!
*** Author Adrian Essigmann has eighteen books in print on
Amazon.com, soon to be nineteen! All of
them are $.99 cents on Kindle, with the exception of “An Assumed Risk” which
will be (Lord willing) an e-book before summer.
All of his books are available in soft cover too! Type Amazon Adrian Essigmann and his author’s
page should come up ***
Book of the Week – Wolf Hunting!! ($.99 on Kindle!)
“Ariel Wilson, ‘Jack’ to her friends, has a mother
determined to make her a superstar. During the school year, she is in lessons,
classes, and sports, but she never wins...at least at anything her mom cares
about. During the summer, Ariel becomes “Little Wolf”, living with her father
just as Native Americans did centuries ago. Then Ariel gets kidnapped by a
group of men who want to blackmail her mother. These men are professional
kidnappers who have abducted dangerous men before, so they’re not worried about
some rich teenage girl. They should be, though, because they haven’t kidnapped
a girl... they’ve got a wolf!”
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