I knew what I wanted to be, before I ever stepped inside a school building. At some point in time a children's story book sealed my fate from within its pages. As a young child, I encountered several colorful characters in those childern books I was read. Peter Pan, Puff the Magic Dragon, Peter Cottontail, Winnie the Pooh, these were some of the many stories read to me. These stories were just stories to me, but there was one that changed me forever. It was a children's book like any other book, but for me it was more than just a book. This book was "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" I carried this book around like the Charlie Brown character, Linus carried his blanket around. Such an impression made by just a childrens story, I wanted to be Mike Mulligan.

In case you are not familar with this book, here is a brief desription of it. "Since it was first published in 1939, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel has delighted generations of children. Mike and his trusty steam shovel, Mary Anne, digs deep canals for boats to travel through, cut mountain passes for trains and hollow out cellars for city skyscrapers. But with progress comes new machines and soon the inseparable duo are out of work so Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne travel to the small town of Popperville and accept one final challenge to dig the town cellar in just one day. What happens is a testament to their friendship and to old-fashioned hard work and ingenuity."

I was determined to have a Mary Anne of my own one day. I always liked playing with dirt and digging holes in the back yard. I got yelled at by mom and dad for digging those holes all over the yard. I was worse than a dog at digging holes. There was so many holes in the back yard, that it was safer to cross a mine field than the back yard. I loved to dig holes and play in the dirt. I was always in trouble for something growing up. I heard Robert Ivan get your butt in here a lot of times. For some reason my mom didn't have that same love of dirt as I did. I was always bringing dirt inside the house to play with. I hauled it in my Tonka truck, pushed it around the living room carpet with my loader, you name it I probably did it. I had dirt in a box under my bed, I really loved dirt.

When I was in junoir high school, I got to help work ground for planting on our farm. That fall I was plowing the ground and loving it. I continued to enjoy doing any thing that was associated with dirt. In high school I

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