Hey there!
This is my first blog so please bare with me. I want to start by introducing myself a little bit. My name is Brent Francis Laughlin-McDermott. The fact that I am giving my full name is significant for two reasons. The first being that I have made it a point to keep my middle name a secret for as long as I can remember and the second reason is that not many people know that I have two last names or why. I have two last names because my parents were not married when they had me. They had planned to get married, but my Dad got sick and passed away from lung cancer before they had the chance. Although I didn’t grow up with my biological father, I was blessed with a very present and involved father in my home. I’ll touch base on that here shortly. Since I’m not quite sure how this whole blog thing works, I’m going to break up the “About Me” post in to sections and go from there.
Background:
I was born and grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. I was born on April 20th, 1990 which means that I just turned 24 ears old. I went to a Christian school from kindergarden through 2nd grade, then to a catholic school for 3rd and 4th. The change in doctrines with that transition did a number on me but I will explain that in my testimony at a later date. I then went to public school until I graduated high school. I went to West Aurora High School and graduated in 2008. I attended a year of community college at Wabonsee, then got accepted to a small Christian school in West Palm Beach, Florida. So I picked up and moved across the country by myself to go to Palm Beach Atlantic University, where I got my Bachelors in Nursing in May of 2013.
I currently work at JFK Medical Center as a Med-Surg/Oncology nurse. I work overnight and most of my patients are pre/post op or have cancer. It’s a lot at times, but I absolutely love it and I know without a doubt that The Lord has called me to be a nurse.
Family:
Well my mother’s name is Rita, and my Biological father’s name was Dale. My mom married my stepdad Wally when I was 5 and has been with us ever since. Just a heads up, from here on out when I refer to my Dad I mean Wally, to avoid any confusion. After my parents got married we moved to a small suburb of Chicago called North Aurora where I lived until I moved away to college and where my parents still live. My mom had me when she was 37 and my dad is 4 years older than her so there is quite a large generational gap. My parents don’t understand the music I listen to or how I view things at times but I feel like that is a normalcy in parent-child relationship. My parents are VERY different from one another. My mother is a fiery Irish red-head who is stubborn as a mule, quick tempered, worrisome to a fault, and overall quite an emotional woman. She is also one of the most loving and passionate people I have ever known. She has the type of faith in The Lord and prayer life that should be sought after by all people of God and one that I haven’t seen by many. It’s truly incredible. My dad is a strong, hardworking, very opinionated, and fairly stoic man who does whatever he needs to provide for his family. He always has. Whether its getting up at 3 in the morning to plow snow, then work a full day or using his vacation time to do things like paint the house, power wash everything we own, or complete a laundry list of as many projects as he can squeeze in before he has to go back to work, he always does what is necessary for our family. He is one of the hardest working men I know. In fact I can’t really think of anyone who works harder than he does. My dad like my mother is also stubborn as all get out, but apparently it’s hereditary. I like to think that I got the best of both of them. At least I hope so. I definitely got the stubbornness though! Oh well. Can’t win ‘em all, right? I also have 3 step siblings. The youngest is my sister Angie, followed by my middle brother Pat, and the oldest is Tim. They are also quite a but older than I am and never lived with us, but we all get along well, especially now that I am older and have more I can relate to them with. Well that pretty much sums up my family in a nut shell or at the very least gives the gist of where I came from so let’s move on shall we?
Hobbies, Interests, and Things I like:
For this section I’m going to let my ADD take over and just kind of randomly spit out fun facts about Brent on this topic and there is A LOT so I apologize in advance.
Well let’s see, I love to be outside. I’ve played just about every sport at one time or another, including cheerleading, and was on a chess team. My favorites and the ones that I was best at were swimming, tennis, and lacrosse. I miss playing lacrosse a lot but I just don’t have the time. I like to paint, draw and sing. I’m decent at all three but singing is my favorite. I have terrible stage fright though, so I don’t sing too often in front of people or at least not in large groups. That doesn’t really make sense to me though because with everything else I am incredibly outgoing and usually if it’s stupid, dangerous or a challenge I’m all over it, but for some reason singing in front of people gets me. I had a motorcycle for the past 5 years and recently had to see it due to too many mechanical issues and haven’t gotten another one in preparation for the World Race. I had a 1994 Honda CBR 600 and absolutely loved it! I miss it like crazy. My girlfriend Brittany loved and misses it too. I will definitely be getting another one but she’s going to get one before me. I’m sure I’ll be jealous. I like to go shooting when I can, camping on my list of favorites as well. I was really good at aggressive inline in high school and did some of it in college but none of my friends do it anymore so I have lost a lot of motivation for it. I was scuba certified at one time but since have let it lapse due to lack of time and frivolous expense. I think tattoos are attractive if they are tactful and have 7 myself. All of which can be covered up with a shirt. I forgot snowboarding!!! That is my all time favorite! I don’t know what I would miss more, the bike or snowboarding if I could only choose one for the rest of my life. I don’t get to do it much living in florida but maybe I’ll move somewhere that I can take ore advantage of it someday. I am learning how to play guitar and write music right now. That is on the top of my challenge list at the moment. I am sure there’s a lot more that I’m missing but I won’t bored you with those details. I like to try new things as often as possible and am always looking for new adventures. I’m so excited for whatever is to come on the World Race.
Misc. Brent Stuff:
Here’s where I’m just going to just throw anything I missed.
I am 24 years old, my birthday is 04/20/1990. I’m a taurus for those who find astrology interesting. I grew up in the Christian faith but only really committed when I was 19. I have a heart for missions and youth ministry. I am a youth leader at my church and co-lead a small group for high-schoolers who have a desire to get closer in relationship with Jesus and I love it. I am 6’3”, weigh about 190, I have bluish grey eyes and short brown hair. I kept my hair long for a while but had to cut it off for one of my nursing classes. I’m thinking about letting it grow out again. I have a wonderful girlfriend named Brittany. I have a few nicknames which are B, B-Rent, B McD, and Swirley. You have to figure out why I have the last one on your own though. Lastly I live with one of my best friends Jay, from college, and we both love to get into all sorts of shenanigans. Oh the stories!
Well that’s all I can really think about for now. Feel fee to leave comments or ask me any questions you’d like me to answer. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you keep up with me as I go on my journey and would love to hear from you!
God Bless, Brent McDermott
