My father, Kent Ellingson

When asked who my hero is I thought of my father instantly. Not another person flew past in my mind. Some people take minutes, hours or days to think about this, but not me, he is my rock, my biggest supporter, my father, and most importantly my best friend.

My father has always been my biggest role model. From the first day I stepped foot on a piece of ice, to the moment I said my hardest goodbye at sixteen years old to move to a boarding school, he has always been there by my side. Growing up was a difficult time for me, I was surrounded by guys and their high egos all around me. I grew up in a household that revolved around hockey and being tough.  Tough is an understatement but growing up like this truly built the character I am today. I was surrounded by this type of mindset because I was the youngest of my siblings and the only girl. I had two older brothers, one being six years older than me and three years older than me. Now don’t get me wrong I am extremely thankful for my brothers, but things got very difficult for me as time went on.

When I was around six years old my parents decided to separate and go their separate ways. This tore me apart, I was broken away from my hometown and forced to move to a new town, I was broken away from any known connections I had. During this time, I saw my father at his lowest point. As a six or seven-year-old girl I was heartbroken to see someone I care so much like this. During this time my brothers and I spent most time with my father, our mother lived a bit away from us, so I was in my own world, with my Barbies and American girl dolls, I thought everything was perfect. But it wasn’t. As I grew older my mind opened up and everything became clearer, I saw what truly happened during the separation and I saw how well my father handled it. I hadn’t realized that my family and I had little but no money, and all through this my dad did everything on his own. He taught me that when things get tough to just keep moving forward. As upset as I was when we moved, I realized that all of these hard decisions were for the best. He has been my hero everywhere I go, and words cannot explain how much he has impacted me.