Being one of those very competitive balls of fire growing up may have caused a few gray hairs on Mom & Dad’s head. I lived outside the lines and didn’t let anything slow me down. Wonder how it was keeping up with a newborn and a two year old at the same time? With being a ball of fire, you’re bound to get hurt a few times. Now, those might have been a few times too many for Mom, but I didn’t care. I was on crutches nearly a year and still had duties I had to take care of. Duties like being a State Officer for Business Professionals of America, complete my Senior year of High School and of course have a spectacular year with all of my friends before we all flew the coup and went off to college. During this particular crutches stint, I had to participate in leadership training for being a State Officer. It was hard not getting to do everything everyone else was doing and my advisor kept telling me to sit down, prop up my ankle and relax. Yeah, I didn’t really listen to her that day. I did what I wanted and pushed myself. Talk about having to really pay the next day. I definitely had to sit down that next day because my ankle had become quite swollen, almost to the point where I couldn’t rotate it. It was bad.
I came up with a way to meet every state officer there. I had two permanent markers, leftover from who knows what and I intended to use them. Use them, I did. I first let my fellow State Officers sign away and the rest is history. There wasn’t enough room for everyone to sign the ace bandage keeping the splint in place, so we gradually moved up my leg, ran out of room there and moved to the other leg. Graffiti is something I’m really not for, but in this instance I look like a “walking” billboard. I was nominated to give a speech at the end of our leadership academy. After nearly 7 years after this camp, I still can’t believe it happened. Taking off my gallon of permanent marker use was tough. I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed some more. I scrubbed so much in fact that my legs were bright red from the scrubbing and when I let the water out of the bath there was a huge ring around the tub in various shades of red, blue and black. Always leaving an impression. 
My speech turned out amazing, I talked about one of the nearest, dearest things I could ever talk about. I gave words of wisdom and that sometimes it takes fighting for something to really be able to accomplish it. Somewhere tucked in a box in my college are all of my memories and my speech from this amazing leadership academy. I made new friends here and have kept in contact with a few of them through various networking sites.
One thing is for certain though, I left a huge impression on all of these wonderful State Officers. Not only does dynamite come in small packages, but if someone is bound and determined to do something, they’re going to figure out a way to do it come hell or high water.
My autographed legs and the National President of BPA competing in what I think was the Olympics for the academy.