Personal Essay

Yes, any kind of 5 page paper looks awful, but now that I actually start typing I’m not sure how I’m supposed to fit my 22 years and 18 days of living into 5 pages. So I’d like to title this no-title paper as “My Life In A 5 Page, Double-Spaced 12 PT Font Paper”. Hmm, 22 years and 18 days of living…that’s a good place to start. On August 8, 1994 in Baytown, Texas, my mother gave birth to a legend (aka Randall Jordan Roberson). Ok this is going somewhere, I think I’ll just treat this as an autobiography and let it go from there. So on that 8th day of August Linda and Vern (my pops) brought me into this world. I lived in Baytown until my mom remarried in 2006…ummm I’ll get to that later. So I’ve been in Haughton, Louisiana since I was 12…I guess I’ll get outta here eventually; but until I can afford a white picket fence, soccer cleats for the kids, and the expensive dog food brand for my future Pomeranian, I’m fine here. So I went to Haughton Middle School when I first moved here, then on to Haughton High, then I ended up at Northwestern State. I got my bachelor’s of science in biology this past spring and now I’m just sucking up A/C in my parent’s house. Well kinda but not really. You see all my life I’ve aspired to become a dentist…that hasn’t gone according to plan so far but I haven’t totally given up hope. So currently I’m taking some night classes to become a dental assistant until I can get my life together. Also I’m taking a few online classes in order to get into the dental hygiene program at ULM. AND I have a girlfriend of 3 months…just thought I should add that. Well I think that just about concludes my quick overview, I should probably go to the next paragraph now huh.

Wow not bad, 1 paragraph, 1 page. Alright, so I mentioned that I would talk about my parents later on so let’s go ahead and tackle that now. So I’m not sure about when and where my folks met but that doesn’t matter anyway. Pops was born in Michigan and moved to Texas for work and that’s how he met my mom. Linda was born in South Louisiana and moved to Texas for work also. Blah blah blah and then came Jordan. My folks were together for a while then that came to a close when I was about 3. So basically as long as I can remember its just been me and my mom. It’s safe to say that I was a bit apprehensive when this new guy started coming around but I guess I couldn’t expect moms to be alone forever. But here we are 10 years later, so I’m used to it by now. Ever since my dad left he’s been bouncing around the country quite a bit. When he left Baytown he went to Plano, Texas, from there he went to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Then he was promoted and had to move to Atlanta, GA. And he’ll be making his final move to Scottsdale, Arizona soon. With all that distance I’ve traveled quite a bit in my life. I’m no stranger to airports.

Speaking of traveling, I’ve been out of the country twice recently. After I graduated I was given the opportunity to go on a medical mission to Punta Gorda, Belize. We went from school to school, giving fluoride varnishes to all the kids. That’s a fancy way of saying we put this paste on the kids’ teeth to make them stronger. We also gave each child a toothbrush, toothpaste, a ball, and a bracelet with beads that corresponded with the bible. This mission trip hands down had the biggest impact on my life. The culture shock is something every American should experience. Just observing the way people live their life somewhere is was very interesting to me. From the different currencies to the different languages, just being in a place where everything is different is a nice change. Especially when the quality of life is considerably lower than what you’re used to. The kids were so grateful for the goodie bags we gave them. Take those same bags to kids in the US and you’ll probably find some in the trash before the day is over. Even though they don’t have the oral hygiene education that we have here, they were still excited to use what they were given. While most of the kids’ teeth were in pretty bad shape, they seemed attentive when we went over how to brush your teeth. Those warm smiles made up for the slow wifi speeds and the sweltering hot weather. All in all it was one of the best times of my life.