Happy Birthday, Jared

Today is our Jared Micheal's 18th birthday.  He was our 4th grandchild and 3rd grandson.  Jared lives in Waverly, Nebraska with his mom, step dad, and younger sister.  His older brother Ryan lives and goes to school in nearby Omaha.

Today I interviewed Jared for his birthday.  Here's how it went.

Happy birthday, Jared.  Are you having a good day?  Oh yeah.  Things are going good so far.  Packers won!  Oh good!  I was going to ask if you were interested in any particular sports teams.  Yeah, I like the Packers and I've recently started following the Kansas City Chiefs.

Are you doing anything special for your birthday.  Yes!  Mom organized a little cookout and we're going to have all my favorite foods like shrimp, chicken, and bacon.  It's going to be glorious.  Bacon?  Yeah, we were going to have bacon for breakfast but we forgot it so we'll have it tonight.

Did Ryan come home for your birthday?  Yes

And will Emily be there also?  Hopefully.  Unless she's off doing her thing.

Are you enjoying high school?  I'm enjoying my last year of high school.  I'll miss Waverly but basically I feel like I'm ready to move on.

What are your plans for next year?  I'm thinking of applying at the University of Nebraska Lincoln and studying Business/Managerial Economics and Accounting.  I guess you like numbers huh?  Quite!

What career path are you interested in pursuing?  I'm looking into being an Investment Analyst but at this point I'm pretty flexible.

I know you detasseled corn over the summer.  What's the hardest aspect of detasseling?   The hardest part is actually detasseling along with the physical struggles that go with it like moving around in razor sharp corn leaves and sometimes slogging through mud.  But aside from all that it can be an enjoyable experience.  What do you like best about it?  Definitely meeting new people.  Did you save the money you earned or buy something with it?  For the most part I'm saving all the money.  Oh, for school next year?  Yeah for school ... or maybe a car.

Are you single or dating someone right now?  Single

I heard you took over some responsibilities to help your mom last summer while Marcus was away during the week and only home on weekends.  What were they and how did you feel about that?  Basically, I guess I was the man of the house.  I was in charge of mowing the lawn every week, trimming the bushes, doing some cleaning, and making sure Mom was sane.  It was interesting because I'd never been in that situation before.  Did you like it?  Not necessarily.  It was one of those things that you just had to keep doing and move on. I'll bet you feel pretty good about having done it right?  Yeah definitely!

Is there anything else you can tell me about yourself that most people might not know?  Not really.

Well there's a lot I can add about Jared too that this interview just doesn't cover.  He's one of the sweetest, most thoughtful, fun loving people I know.  He's quick to help out in any situation, he loves kids, animals, cousins, and the Christmas house and he'd do anything for his mom.  And he's loved so much by his extended family and his close knit Waverly family.

The only drawback about Jared is that we just don't see enough of him.  At any rate, we're wishing him the happiest birthday ever and a year that exceeds all his dreams and expectations.