On February 19th, 2012 my life changed forever. My wife Kayla and I welcomed our first child into this wonderful world. We were both so happy that I don't think either of us ever really understood how he would totally alter the course of our lives. Which is exactly how it should be, right? Sure, we both had a good understanding of how late night diaper changes and feedings would have us both sleep deprived, but we never fully comprehended what it would now look like to put someone else's well being completely before our own.
This is where my journey to working with my father in the business that he has worked so hard to build began. Growing up I saw the love and dedication from both of my parents and their ability to completely put their children's needs before their own. Now it was my time to step up to the plate.
A little backstory from Kayla and I prior to our journey. Kayla and I are high school sweethearts from Lanark, IL. We started dating while I was a senior in high school and she was a junior. We carried that relationship from Lanark to the Quad Cities where I attended Augustana College to major in business and she attended St. Ambrose University to study nursing. After college we both landed jobs in the Quad Cities, she was a nurse (labor & delivery), and I worked at the Rock Island Arsenal working for the Army. We were in love with our lives and the future that was ahead of us.
Then on February 19th, Beckett Patrick was born and trust me when I say this, he has held us accountable for our actions from day 1! His mind is constantly running and his imagination is something I'm jealous of. Now that we were parents it was time to look to the future, not just to the next Friday night.
Around the spring of 2013 when Beckett was one year old and the toys were starting to pile up in our little starter home, Kayla and I began having conversations about the direction our lives could take. We loved the course we were on, but was there a better one?
About this time we began wondering if a move from the Quad Cities back to our hometown was the right move? As a nurse Kayla would have no problem finding a job and it had always been my dream to move back and start working with my dad. While it was far from an easy decision, we agreed for Beckett's future and our future children that we wanted them to grow up in Carroll County close to our family.
We moved back in September of 2013. We have loved our time reconnecting with friends from old and meeting new friends who also call northwest Illinois home. We had the pleasure of welcoming our daughter Brynleigh Ann to our lives in March 2015. She has the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen and her personality puts her in charge.
I plan to use this Blog for a few things. I want to allow people to follow my career and gain a different perspective on insurance through everyday activities of my family and friends. I find many situations each week when insurance comes into play that I never considered prior to taking this plunge. My goal is to help people understand some risks that they might be overlooking in their personal lives while giving them a look into my life as an insurance agent and what I am learning.
I will mix in business and pleasure by taking some pages out of two of my favorite bloggers. I have terrible writing skillz that have only gotten worse after college and auto-correct text messaging so please don't judge me on my spelling, but please subscribe and enjoy!