Jwls Mac Ray

It’s an interesting turn of events…

In high school, all I could think about most days, was living on my own, being independent, and getting away from the rules of my parents’ home. I fantasized about staying up as late I wanted, sleeping in on my days off without interruption, wearing whatever I wanted, seeing my friends whenever and however often I wanted to, and no one to tell me when or what chores to do. I love my family, as I’m sure you do too, but let’s be real… we all had similar, if not the exact same, thoughts growing up.

Two days after graduating high school in May of 2009, I shipped of to Basic Combat Training (BCT) for the Army, thousands of miles from home. I thought my parents had rules, boy did I get a big ole slap in the face with this new chapter of…