My Life as Oliver

My Beginning.

The Basis of Oliver James Minier.

Where to begin. I'm only twenty-three years of age, but it seems like it all happened forever ago. It's almost as if I've been alive for more than just the numbered years I've been wandering this planet. My father met my mother when he was twenty-three. She was only seventeen at the time, but he waited for her. I always admired the connection that I could see my parents had. When I was a child I wished I could have the same connection with someone like that. However, more important things came up once I hit about sixteen. Just a bit of a background on my parents...in case you were curious which I imagine you aren't but they were always there for me, so I feel they deserve some recognition. Lindsay and Travis Minier. They met while working at the same resort.

My mother started out as a hostess for the restaurant, and was with another guy at the time. She was quiet and shy, but she did her job well and somehow found her voice during greeting people that walked into the doors. My father was the guy that did literally everything. Now, When they first met my mother was in a relationship with a guy that was going on two years. My father was in a relationship with a woman for going on four years. Both believed that they were with the person that they were going to marry. Turns out that both were horribly wrong. The guy my mother was dating was emotionally abusive, and cheated on her at least once. The woman my father was with lived in a different state and had only seen her twice. She cheated on him quite a bit, was emotionally abusive, and used him for his money. Now, I'm sure you're wondering why the hell would they stay with people that treat them that way. My parents are two very nice people. They obviously cared about who they were with at the time, and made themselves believe that that is what they deserved. For some unknown reason my father started talking to my mom. Simply teasing her. It became more prominent after his girlfriend just abruptly broke up with him. One fateful work night their co-worker, and at the time mutual friend, Zach, had somehow gotten the three of them in an all night "poke war". I personally think it was my mom's doing when it comes to the whole poke war thing, and my dad just somehow got involved. After some popcorn being flung at one another, some pokes to the side being exchanged, and just some conversation the two started talking, and within a month my mother was free from her abusive boyfriend and five months later in a relationship my grandparents didn't approve of.

Alright, I imagine you don't care to know about my parents anymore than you already do, I mean that was a mouthful as is. Growing up in Chicago with a speech therapist for a mom and a firefighter of a father with a younger sister, Becca, was I guess as good as you can get with a bunch of little dogs roaming around. Three main pembroke corgis, Duke, Dozer, and Tank, along with a whole bunch of little pembroke corgis roaming around on a corgi farm. Yep, that's right. I grew up on a corgi farm. Talk about obsession. However, Duke being the corgi my father got my mom caused her to favor him a bit more than the rest of the handful of corgis. You'd think I would be sick of pembroke corgis by now, when in fact they're my favorite breed of dog. They remind me of home. I currently have one sitting back at home, Duke Junior (aka DJ). The favored dog grew on me when I was younger. Okay, okay enough corgi talk.

Jumping to high school...I was quite, I don't know, popular I suppose? I gained my father's talent in various different sports. I didn't start out on the Junior Varsity team like most freshmen. Nope. I was put on the Varsity team within the first week of practice. Sophomore year, however, was a different story. Which is where my story actually begins.