My Biggest Accomplishment

When people think of their biggest accomplishment, they probably have positive memories surrounding it. They probably feel pride and successful. However when I think of my biggest accomplishment, I think of the days that lead up to it. 

The week leading up to my proudest accomplishment was probably one of the most petrifying and emotional weeks of my life. It all started on the famous October blizzard. I had gotten home early from school that day due to the roads starting to be covered in snow. I was sitting in my room listening to music and putting clothes away. My dad came downstairs and laid on the couch to watch TV. He hadn't been feeling good that week, so he was taking the snow as a chance to take it easy. 

My family was all relaxing and taking in the unexpected snow day. My dad had just finished up in the field earlier that day after battling breakdown after breakdown in the damp cold temperatures. He had a little bit of a fever, but nothing any of us were very worried about. 

After I was done cleaning up my room, I went upstairs and got ready for bed. I took my makeup off, showered, and put my glasses back on. I got in a comfy sweatshirt and a pair of leggings. I came back downstairs and noticed my dad was shivering a little more than when I had gone to shower. I asked him how he was feeling and he asked me to grab him another blanket. 

Later in the night he asked me to come out of my room. He looked me in the eye and said "I think I need to go to the hospital." Now to anyone other than a farmer, that seems like a very normal statement. In a farmer's world, that is a last resort statement.

My heart instantly dropped and I began to think of the ice and snow covered roads outside. I could hear the wind blowing through the house, and I instantly felt anxiety creep in. My dad very slowly got up off the couch and I grabbed him his winter coat. We headed out to the pickup and I covered him back up in the biggest and thickest blanket that my family owned. I cleared the snow of the windshield and we headed out on the thirty minute drive to the hospital. 

During that thirty minute drive to the hospital, my dad told me things that a 17 year old daughter should never hear out of their father's mouth. It sounded like he was preparing for the worst outcome. As I was on the phone with the emergency room, I was forcing myself to put a mental block in so I would burst into tears. 

Once we got to the hospital, they took him into the exam room while I sat alone in the waiting room. One of my best friends stopped by to sit with me for a little bit, but I didn't have much to say. I was supposed to have a History test the next day so instead I tried to read my notes. 

A little while after my friend had left, a nurse came out of the exam room. She told me I could go see my dad. He told me that they thought he was having a heart attack and they were going to drive him by ambulance to Grand Forks... which is an hour away. Typical of my dad, he didn't want me to go with. Instead I was supposed to find a place to stay in Park River. 

As I walked out of the hospital I looked to my right. The sight that I saw broke the mental dam in my head instantly. Complete terror, sadness, and the strangest form of innocence took over me. All I saw were the flashing blue and red lights of an ambulance with a pickup with a snowplow in front of it. That ambulance was going to be bringing my only parent through a record blizzard all the way to Grand Forks. The rest of that night was a blur. 

Now you're probably wondering what this has to do with my proudest accomplishment.

This horrifying event happened exactly a week before my county fair. I had been practicing to show my goat nonstop for the past 6 months. My stress levels were already running very high until this happened. 

My dad ended up staying in the hospital in Grand Forks for a few days. While he was there I was trying not to think about it by staying busy with anything that I could. A few days later on Wednesday the first day of the fair rolled around. 

Nobody knew what we had gone through the previous week except for my immediate family. I was still walking around in a half mental blur just trying to get everything I needed to do done. I washed my goat and trimmed her hooves. I walked her around the arena trying to get her ready to show. The next morning was the first day of showing. This day of showing wasn't very important to me, so I wasn't very worried. That was until I showed up in the morning and my goat was limping. My heart skipped a beat because I thought I was about to lose everything I had worked for. This was the only thing that was getting me through the previous weeks happenings, and all I wanted was to show on Friday. 

I instantly found the vet and asked if their was anything we could do. She gave my goat a shot and said that if she wasn't better tomorrow that I couldn't show. I went home that night completely numb because of the events of that week. 

Little did I know that the next day would be one of the proudest moments of my life. My goat walked perfectly fine the next morning and I got to show her. I ended up winning Grand Champion Senior Goat Showman which entered me in the round robin. The round robin is a competition where you show every species of animals against the grand champions of each division. 

My proudest accomplishment to this day is winning Reserve Champion Overall Showman all by myself. Due to my dad's health condition he was unable to be there that day. I got my goat ready all by myself and gave my own pep talks. 

This may not seem like a big deal, but to me it is. Everyone else around me had both of their parents there cheering them on and helping them nonstop in the barns. For me to win Reserve Overall Showman as a kid from a non-livestock family and no help is very impressive. 

I still remember my previous land judging and crop judging coach handing me my plaque. The smile on his face and the tears in his eyes really showed how proud he was of me. If my coach could be that proud, I can only imagine how proud my dad was that day. 

That whole week taught me a lot. It taught me to look at the positive sides of life. Everything could be going wrong, but there is always something that can go right. It also taught me to be resilient. I could have given up when I had to do it alone, but I kept pushing forward and it led to one of the best moments of my life. 

Here is a picture of me with my goat from that year, and a picture of me with both of my plaques.