Jumper
Clarissa Stuhlsatz
Through my life there have been numerous experiences where I learned something wonderful that I didn’t know before. More than 90% of these experiences, I realized, have taken place with the people I spend the most time with, my family. From working on the farm with my dad to baking supper and folding laundry with my mother, I learned so many things that I’ll never forget. But like every situation, there is always one memory that sticks out like a cat in a room full of dogs. This past summer on a rather warm day, my dad asked me if I wanted to come help him fix fence in one of our 3 pastures. Usually my brother was the one to help my dad with farm work, but since my brother was at boot camp for the Air Force, I was next in line. I remember all the way to the pasture I was thinking about my boyfriend. Things were very good between us, but I for some reason wasn’t feeling right. I turned to my dad and remember thinking, “I wonder if dad would understand what I’m feeling?”. It only took 15 minutes to get to the pasture since it was right out of Garden Plain, so pretty quickly I was out of the truck and on my hands and knees with my dad pulling weeds out of the fencing, trying to get to the problem. After we fixed part of the fencing, dad suggested we take a break and get something to drink. While walking to the truck he asked me how things were going with my boyfriend, and looked over at me with his eyebrows raised. Feeling defeated, I spilled everything to my dad about our relationship and how I wasn’t having the feelings for him like he was for me. He nodded every once in a while, but mostly just listened. I watched his expression change through the time I was talking, and by the end he was almost smiling. “Clarissa, you just don’t get it do you?” I was a bit frustrated, what did my dad see that I didn’t? Again he started talking, “Your such a beautiful girl, and any guy can easily fall for you, just like this one. The hard part that you
Through my life there have been numerous experiences where I learned something wonderful that I didn’t know before. More than 90% of these experiences, I realized, have taken place with the people I spend the most time with, my family. From working on the farm with my dad to baking supper and folding laundry with my mother, I learned so many things that I’ll never forget. But like every situation, there is always one memory that sticks out like a cat in a room full of dogs. This past summer on a rather warm day, my dad asked me if I wanted to come help him fix fence in one of our 3 pastures. Usually my brother was the one to help my dad with farm work, but since my brother was at boot camp for the Air Force, I was next in line. I remember all the way to the pasture I was thinking about my boyfriend. Things were very good between us, but I for some reason wasn’t feeling right. I turned to my dad and remember thinking, “I wonder if dad would understand what I’m feeling?”. It only took 15 minutes to get to the pasture since it was right out of Garden Plain, so pretty quickly I was out of the truck and on my hands and knees with my dad pulling weeds out of the fencing, trying to get to the problem. After we fixed part of the fencing, dad suggested we take a break and get something to drink. While walking to the truck he asked me how things were going with my boyfriend, and looked over at me with his eyebrows raised. Feeling defeated, I spilled everything to my dad about our relationship and how I wasn’t having the feelings for him like he was for me. He nodded every once in a while, but mostly just listened. I watched his expression change through the time I was talking, and by the end he was almost smiling. “Clarissa, you just don’t get it do you?” I was a bit frustrated, what did my dad see that I didn’t? Again he started talking, “Your such a beautiful girl, and any guy can easily fall for you, just like this one. The hard part that you