High School Years

High school was a rough 4 years for me, although that's not the main point of this particular post, telling you that, but it's true.  As I said in my previous post, my dad got cancer again when I was a sophomore in high school.  I think the biggest issue, was that I never liked to take the time to actually study, especially when it came to Math.  I had a really hard time in Math, all throughout high school, and my dad would always tell me "You have to learn the rules son."  I can't even begin to tell you how many times I heard that.  Anyway, once the cancer came back, my dad took it hard and it affected me too, because he was my dad, and you don't want to see your dad be sick, especially when he is supposed to take care of you, not the other way around. Again, your dad is supposed to be Superman.  Another thing he would always tell me, and for those that knew my dad, you know he was a very passionate man.  He would always say, "Patrick, you have so much potential, and I want you to be a better man than me," which looking back now, I hope I can be half the man he was with what he went through.  He would always tell me that, because he didn't want me, with him having cancer and being sick cause me to not do my best and go after my dreams, which now looking back, I understand.  Let me be honest though, that is very hard to do, because you want to help those you love and be there for them, but you also have to live at the same time.  I think with that comes learning to trust God even with everything that is going on. I don't say this knowing how to, but learning and trying to do it. For me it has not come very easy, but it certainly helps.  Trust me, I am not the expert on how to balance those two things, I am just telling you my experience, which I hope you can learn from.  Also, it was not hard for me to make friends in high school, but it is hard when someone in your family is sick and there are not a lot of people around that can relate.  In many ways you feel like you are alone, and for those that are reading this, again know that you are not, and that you do have a support system if you are willing to have people be there for you.

Thanks for reading and God Bless,

Patrick Mastrianni