The Unfinished Story Of Bryan Marple

The begining:
I was born on March 19th 1989 in Vancouver, WA to Kevin and Anne Marple. I was the first of what will later be 2 children. We lived in a small house that was my parent's first. I don't have many memories of this house, only some home videos to show me what it was like. My dad had been working in the Camas paper mill since he graduated high school, and my mom was an accountant for an new home building company called Hendrickson Holmes. On July 9th 1991 another Marple was born, her name was Amy. The day after she was born we moved into what is now my current house. If I had only known then how close we would be, we would've gotten along much better as kids. It was the usual brother sister bickering and rivalry thing. We never really got along until she got to high school, but ever since we have been as close as ever.

School Starts:
I started out my schooling at Kinder Care day care. Some would say that it was just a day care and that not much learning was going on, but I had spent a lot of time there since both parents worked full time. I started going there around two years old and continued spending my days there while my parents were at work until first grade. I started Kindergarten at Mill Plain Elementary and also attended first grade there. When it was time to start second grade
a new school had opened, Fisher's Landing Elementary. A place to meet so many new people and when my first real friendships started to form. I was an awkward looking kid, anyone who has seen pictures can attest to that. I had a brown hair that was cut into a bowl cut, but for some reason I had let my parents talk me into dying the top part blonde (They also convinced me that is actually looked good.) But despite being this weird looking kid I had tons of friends. I guess I've just always had a friendly personality and can make friends easily. There really isn't a "popular" kid in elementary school, but if there was I was it. I had many "girlfriends" and tons of guy friends. I was also a pretty smart kid. I was smar enough that I got everything the teacher tought us in class without having to do any extra work. I think this is part of the reason that I never had much motivation to do schoolwork outside of class. It wouldn't be until the sixth grade that the teacher would actually realize my true potential in the classroom...

Middle School:
Because of where I lived and coming from this new elementary school I had the option to pick between two middle schools. It was tough because all my friends were split. I pick Pacific Middle School over Wy East. I was most of the normal classes; english, math, p.e., and band. About half way through the year my parents got a call from my english teacher. She wanted to know if I had ever been tested for the excel program. For those who don't know the accel program was an accelerated learning program that kids who could test into it went and would be taught at a quicker more in depth pace. My parents hadn't ever heard about it and were kinda stunned that she was asking it. So they signed me up for the test to see what it was all about. I scored in the 98th percentile. By this time it was too late for me to start accel classes in 6th grade, but there was the catch. The next year I would be going to a new middle school that wouldn't have an accel program. Therefore I feel like I have always kind of been held back in that sense. Again I had a good social life at Pacific and made many friends. I finally realized that my look wasn't working and cut my hair and quit dying it. I started going along with the trend of American Eagle, Hollister and Abercrombie clothing. When the year ended it was tough. I would be leaving most of the friends that I had made during that year to go to this new school and I would have to start all over again.

In seventh grade a new school called Shahala opened. It was then that I feel like I really started to come out of my shell. I played every sport that I could that was offered. I did football, wrestling, basketball, track. Again it was easy for me to make friends. It was then that relationships started, or at least what we thought were relationships. I would have a girlfriend one week, that would be over and the next week it would be someone new. I dunno what other schools did it, but at our school the wrestlers were the cool kids. Those who went to districts would buy these sweatshirts that were "really cool" and were really comfortable. Well if you were dating a wrestler you got his sweatshirt. It was funny to see the girls walking down the hallways with sweatshirts that were two sizes too big for them with a picture of a reallty buff eagle wrestler on the chest. The other way you knew if someone was dating was the girl would wear the guy's watch. Not just some digital watch, they were the nice silver ones, and if you were really lucky you got one that had some pointless spinning thing around the face that clicked. My sweatshirt and watch must have gotten passed to at least 20 different girls that year. Of course they weren't real relationships and your parents tried to tell you that, but to you it was as real as it gets. You would be the happiest person in the world when you went to the movie with someone and you got to hold hands throughout the whole movie, despite the fact that your hands would be dripping with sweat, and you may have even cried when you gotten broken up with. These relationships were serious. Not only did I do well with the ladies (LOL), but I continued to do well in school without even trying. At one point my teachers that I reccomended taking the SATs and depending on what I got I could get scholorship money. So of course I did. I don't remember my exact scores, but I do remember that I scored somewhere in the 20 something percentile. Me being a little seventh grader was taking the SATs with high school seniors and I scored better than 20 something percent of them. My parents were thrilled and so were my teachers.

8th grade was just more of the same, but now my sister was at the school with me for the first time, or at least the first time that we could see each other throughout the day. Now I'm not going to share this story in any attempt to brag, just keep in mind it was a new school with new kids and new faculty. I was a bit of a "legend". I was the kid that played all the sports and I was one of the best wrestlers on the team, I was the kid that wore Hooters shirts to school (Ya I know you wouldn't think that was a big deal, but in middle school it was, and the year after I left they wouldn't let anyone wear them. They called it the Bryan Marple rule.), not to mention I was a good student and was well liked by all the teacher that I had. WELL... My sister came home from the first day of school in what was the sixth grade for her almost in tears. My parents had to tell me the story because of course I was at football practice, but they say that she came in the door marched right up to her room and slammed the door. My parents were concerned so they went up to see what was wrong. I guess she pretty much screamed, "I AM NOT BRYAN MARPLE'S LITTLE SISTER!!!" I guess every time a teacher had taken role they asked if she was my sister, and people would call her Bryan's sister in the halls and stuff. Of course the year ended with the 8th grade farewell and all that other stuff. It was sad, we would be splitting up again. Some of us were off to Mountain View and some were off to Evergreen. It would be a new start all over again.

High School:
High school was a new/different experience for me. I was going to Mountain View High School. I dunno what was so different about it for me. I think part of it was being scared, you were the youngest on a campus where the different ages actually were around each other. In all my other schools they kept the grades seperate. So I made a small group of friends. I definitely wasn't the popular kid. I was actually kind of geeky. I had gotten glasses and braces and didn't really concentrate too much on my social life. Despite not feeling like I fit in that well I was homecoming prince my freshman year. I didn't really start to feel comfortable in high school until about my junior year. I was finally not the youngest on campus, I could drive, and for whatever reason I just started hanging out with a new group of friends. These kids were the popular kids. I fit in well too. I had their style, I was still very athletic, and I had already been friends with many of them in middle and elementary school. The very begining of my junior year I met a girl. I hadn't really had any serious relationships up to this point and wasn't really looking for one. I was talked into going to a friends house by some guys and she was there. She was really cute so I asked for her number. We got to know each other and I got up the courage to ask her to homecoming. Not too much longer after that we started dating. She was my best friend throughout high school and we did everything together. Because of my relationship I never really got all that close with any of the girls at my school. To be honest most of them annoyed me anyways. I did however find a core group of guys that got along well and we all had similar interests. Looking back at my friends in high school I realize that I am pretty much no longer friends with any of the girls that hung out with us guys, but the guys are still all as close as ever, even though we are all in different locations doing different things with our lives.

My habits from middle school carried over to high school. I just kind of got by on doing work only in class, never needing to study or put in any extra work. When I graduated I had a 3.3 GPA and had been excepted into all three universities I applied to; Western Washington, University of Oregon, and University of Idaho. I was set on going to Western.

College Begins:
My summer before I left for school was a blast. I knew I was going to start this amazing experience and I would be living on my own. I had the one good girl that I had friend going to school with me and she was going to be living in the same dorm. But I must say when I left I was sad. I wouldn't be seeing my family as much and that was a big blow. My family always does Sunday dinners where we invite over my grandpa and sometimes aunts, uncles, and cousins. I would always miss that when I was away at school. The other big thing I would be missing when I left for school was my girlfriend. We had been dating for 2 years at this point and we didn't know what was going to happen to us. She was staying home and going to school at Clackamas Community College and I was going to be 250 miles away. We thought about just ending it and trying to move on, but we ultimately decided on trying to make it work. Surprisingly we did. Either I would ride the train down or she would drive up for the weekends. We never went more than 3-4 weeks without seeing each other. I had also started meeting some amazing people and becoming friends with them. I pretty much loved my first year of college.

Now I'm gonna back up just a little bit. Something happened to me my freshman year in college that gave me a new perspective on things. About the time of my graduation my grandma started experiencing health problems. She would suddenly feel dizzy or certain parts of her body would go numb. For weeks doctors ran test after test. They couldn't figure anything out. Finally they found something. It was some sort of lump, and it was on her brain stem. Almost immediately they took her into surgery to try and figure out what it was. Turns out it was a tumor. The pressure it was putting on her brain stem is what was causing the health problems. Over the next few months her body became somewhat bloated, she could barely eat, and didn't want to go anywhere because she couldn't walk. I remember being up at school one mornign in January and getting a call from my dad saying that grandma wasn't doing well. I wasn't really kept up on the severity of the whole situation and didn't really get it. I just kinda shrugged it off as no big deal, grandma was a fighter and I know she'll get through this too. My dad was like, "No, you don't get it, you might be coming home this weekend." That's when it really hit me. Later that day I was on an airplane home from Bellingham to try to get to the hospital before my grandma was gone. I had gotten there later that night and she had gone into a sort of coma that afternoon. My aunt was the last person that got to talk to her and I had wished that I had gotten there earlier so that I could have told her how much she meant to me. Jenny Marple passed away on January 31st 2008. No more than seven months after being diagnosed with the tumor she was gone. This was the first real tragedy that I ever had to deal with. It helped to put a new perspective on life and showed me just how quickly something or someone can just be taken away.

My second year of college is when things truly started getting rocky. My girlfriend moved schools so she could come and be with me. But halfway through the year we decided to end things. After 3 and a half years it was over. Now that I didn't have a girlfriend I had a lot more time on my hands. I did way too much partying and didn't really take school seriously. I partly attribute this to my living situation. I had made some really good friends my first year and I decided to live with them this next year. It was a total of 8 guys living together. That means everyday was a party if I wanted to. There was never any down time. I struggled in school because of my lack of motivation. After my winter quarter there I found out that I was being dismissed. I would no longer be attending school at Western.

Once I moved home I started going to Clark. I was again living at home. Taken away from my freedom of living on my own and again placed under my parent's restrictions. We clashed again and again. Finally they told me that I was gonna be under house arrest if I wanted to continue to live there, so I said forget it. I packed up a bag and left. Didn't really know where I was going I just knew I couldn't stay at home. I walked all the way down mill plan to a friend's apartment. I was at such a new low for me. One night I knew I had to work all the way down in Washougal. I rode my bike most of the way and I spent most of the night in a park. You would be amazed at how your perspective can change when you don't have a place to stay, or a way to get around. The next day I went home to get some more clothes and everything I ever owned was packed up and sitting on the doorstep. Since then my parents have asked me to move back in.

I am now living at home still going to clark. I am playing on the newly formed baseball team as well as reffing and playing soccer. I have met with the Navy and am going to be meeting with the Airforce very soon. I think that will be the best possible route for me. As of now I am getting along with my parents again. My sister is off at school at Utah State University and I miss her very much. I try to spend as much time with my grandpa as I can. He comes over every sunday to have dinner and I help him out as much as he has helped me throughout my life.

That is me up to this point.