this is my Jiu jitsu academy there’s not much to this building at all, its shoved in the corner of a strip mall here in Norman. You would probably not even notice it if you drove by, it’s a bit of a hole in the wall gym. When you walk inside its interior is equally as unimpressive as the outside. It’s basically just a room filled with mats and nothing else. The good thing is that all you really need, the beauty is in its simplicity, no frills, no shiny equipment, no mirrors to take the obligatory workout selfie that everyone likes to take, and certainly no post workout smoothie bar. It’s just a lot of mats where a lot of hard work gets done, the kind of work that no one else sees but you. This is a special place to me because its turning into a kind of sanctuary for me, it has allowed me to pursue jiu jitsu, which has given me many good things in my life. It’s given me a focus and a drive, something that I haven’t been able to find anywhere else. So it may look like a dump to everyone else but it’s a jewel to me.

Church- this building has had a huge impact on my life. My dad is a pastor and served that congregation for nearly 20 years, up until last year when they moved to California. I pretty much grew up in this building and I have worked on every square inch of it, I could probably navigate it blindfolded. The church could never afford to pay for any repairs or renovations it needed, so my dad would do the work himself on top of also being the pastor. Since I was the oldest it always fell on me to help him on any repairs that needed to be done. We fixed everything in that building, from the flooring, to the windows, to painting, to installing a security system, to repairing the air conditioning units, to running new gas lines. You name it, we worked on it together. I hated it at the time, but looking back now those are some of the best memories I have of me and my dad. I’m grateful to this building for all the great memories it provided. I still attend this church regularly and every time I visit it I remember all the work we did.