Jared Michael

Today is Jared's 20th birthday.  Jared is our 4th grandchild and 3rd grandson.

He's an important part of this large family!

And an even more important part of this smaller family.

Although they live in Nebraska now, he was born in Michigan City.  Tonight I conducted a phone interview with him and here's how it went:

Happy Birthday, Jared!  Thank you!

  Are you having a good day?  Oh yeah it's been great.

Have you done anything special to celebrate?  Sunday my family and I went to a wings sports bar called Buffalo Wings and Rings.  We had a lot of wings and a lot of fun.  They were the best wings I've ever had and it's one of my favorite places. It's downtown and where I wanted to celebrate my birthday.

Do you have plans for tonight?   I'm pretty much done for the day.  My friends and I might hang out a little bit but that's all.

How is school going?  School's going good.  Initially I had a little trouble with Physics but other than that things have been going swimmingly so far.  And Physics isn't a problem anymore either.

What's your favorite subject in school?  My favorite subject right now is Economics.  That's what I'm majoring in and that's the one I'm doing the best in so far.

What do you like best about college?   The freedom.  In high school you had 8 straight hours of classes, a few hours of homework, dinner and than repeat for 4 years straight.  In college we set our own schedule basically.  The classes are ones we pick.  Even though there's a big time requirement it's never been a thorn in my side because I make my own schedule. Freedom is a HUGE advantage.

And what do you like least about college?  The thing I like least is the price.  The cost is just too big for tuition, books, everything and the prices just keep going up.

You're a sophomore this year right?  Yes.   What do you plan to do when you graduate? I honestly have no idea.  Economics is such a broad field that I need to have a specialty before I can even scratch the surface of career searching.

Do you find it hard living away from home?  It was definitely hard at first but being only 20 or 25 minutes away helps a lot.  I can see my family whenever I need to so it's not a huge issue anymore.

Did you enjoy Christmas week in Gulf Shores last year?  Yes!  Very much so.  Even though I wasn't as active during that time as I probably should have been, it was miles better than winter in Indiana.

Why?  You could go outside, see more, do more, and not have to worry about being caught in a blizzard.

What do you like best about your sister, Emily?  She's very different but not in the sense that that's bad.  She's an extremely unique person.  She likes to be different from what society might expect from her and that's something I can definitely appreciate.

What do you like best about your brother, Ryan?  I love the fact that he's always there for me and he's always got my back.  As a consequence I've always got his.  I feel like that kind of relationship is really special and really important

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Where do you see yourself in ten years?   Honestly college has caused me to place a lot of focus on just getting a career and a good paying job in the next five years. So I haven't really delved into real long-term thinking just yet.

What else can you tell us about yourself that we haven't covered in this interview?  I see myself as someone who is ready to accept the challenges that the previous generations have laid upon me.   Like what?  Like high college costs and advancing technology to begin with. Overall  I think this generation gets a bad rap and the further I go in college, the more ready I feel to accept that rap and make myself stand out to make positive changes wherever I go.

And that pretty much concluded our phone interview.  But, as always, there's so much more I can tell you about Jared.  First of all, last week he was inducted into the National Society of Collegiate Scholars at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

And if that doesn't say enough about him, I have to add what a genuinely sweet, honest, selfless, hard-working, and conscientious person he is.  Jared loves animals, all his cousins, and his family.  He doesn't hesitate to help out when asked and will always do what he knows is right.    We couldn't love him more and I hope his birthday is better than he could have dreamed possible and that the coming year surpasses it every way.   Happy Birthday, Jared!

 Please note:  Photo credits for the truly beautiful pictures in this post (and they're easy to pick out) go to the amazing Beth Fletcher of Beth Fletcher Photography!