Giving 110

I have been covering all the sports camps this summer and am really so proud of all the Lady Cubs and Cubs who have been turning out for these camps. These are the ones who want the edge, be the best of the best, and see their teams succeed during the school year. They set aside time when everyone is having fun swimming and partaking in summer shenanigans!

So, my hat’s off to these student-athletes who take time to be better.

Only a few times in my life have I gone above and beyond - to be the very best, to succeed when others fail or just put in the time.

I was a slacker growing up, happy to be in the back or middle of the pack, just doing enough to get by and showing up for the bare minimum.

The three things I went above and beyond for and put in the time to learn or practice were football, working at Home Depot, and learning how to be a great photographer to capture photos for the Olney Enterprise and the town of Olney.

Football was my big passion as a youth and the only thing I put everything I had into – doing two-a-days in the hot summer heat, 110 percent every single play and thinking and studying football 24 hours-7 days a week.

Home Depot was the first job I really loved and wanted to shine at as an employee and drive toward becoming a specialty manager. Home Depot taught me how to be a leader and to think outside the box and to actually care about the company and people I work with and care for our customers just as much.

It was by chance, or I should say divine intervention, that I got the photojournalist’s job at the Enterprise. The Home Depot I transferred to in Wichita Falls was nothing in comparison to the Home Depot I loved in Lake Worth. The store was just a pale comparison to the management, philosophy and pride of the store I came from. I no longer wanted to pursue a career with Home Depot or at least the one in Wichita Falls and the long drive was constantly causing my A.S. to flare.

Towards the end, I was limping out of work each day and had no idea what I could do. I turned in prayer and, like always, God answered with an opening at a small hometown paper in the new sweet little community I had just moved to. At first, it was to sell advertisements and after cold calling every business in Young County I soon found out this was a dead end, so I turned to what I knew best: photography and sharing my experiences and feelings in my column and telling the story of Olney.

The rest, as they say, is history. I now live in the greatest little community anywhere, doing a dream job I never hoped to do or thought to dream for, which was made possible by my love for God and my love for photography.

I put all I have into both and it has paid off beyond measure.

This is Will B saying, find what you love and put everything you have into it even if you don’t see where it will lead you!