My name is Jackson Daniel Doty and I’m currently sixteen years old and living in St. Cloud, MN. My name was inspired by the name of one of my parents’ grandparents and according to some research, my name in full roughly translates to “the persistent son of Jack whom God is his judge”. However, my father’s name is not Jack, but in fact, Daniel, and my mom’s name is Kimberly. I was born on September 27, 2002 along with a twin brother; Andrew (the doctors joked that we were named after the US president Andrew Jackson). However, shortly after Andrew was born, he died for an unknown reason. Thankfully, I was a healthy birth, even though I had to undergo several operations during my first weeks at the hospital.
Over the following years, I did normal baby things that normal babies do, like crying, crawling, laughing at random things, crib climbing, etc. my first birthday eventually came up and my family celebrated with an animal themed party. My life continued as normal afterwards; learning how to understand the confusing patterns and complex intricacies of what is known to many as the English language, to eventually make out the movements of my first mumble that just barely resembles a word of English. Also during this time, my main interests and hobbies began to evolve into the activities I do now in my free time. But even with all of this advancement, a salom shadow of the past still loomed boldly over my mother; the premature death of Andrew. It was only four years later when the burden was lifted one morning, as on our visit to his grave, a double rainbow faded into view; both gliding across the blue sky of day as if it was a watercolor print. In mom’s own words…
“It was a sign from God to me, showing to me that Andrew was resting happily in Heaven”
During my early years, I went to preschool at Madison Elementary School and later enrolled into a christian private school known as Prince of Peace Lutheran School. During my time there, I had to study and remember Bible verses along with learning regular things like math and english. From what a remember, I fondly looked back on my Kindergarten and first grade teachers, but I didn’t at all like my second grade teacher. During that time, my time at the school became mediocre at best at one time, I became so frustrated with one student that I socked her in the face with her own lunch box. However, this time was also the time I began to wear glasses, which since has became iconic to me. After the year was over, without regret, I moved my education to Kennedy Elementary School in St. Joseph, MN.
My first two years of Kennedy were some of my best, but unfortunately, I don’t remember much of it. However, I do know that during third grade, I took a vacation to Cancun, Mexico on spring break. During this time was also when my artistic talent began to show itself to others as I drew and presented my drawings during class often for the other classmates to see. I soon became known as the artist (I still am) and in some cases, nearly half of the entire class would huddle over me just to watch me draw. When I often refer to my fourth grade year, it comes up as best year (with the exception of my freshman year), and that statement, for me, still holds up.