
Being the 3rd Oldest of 11
That’s right, I am the 3rd oldest of 11 kids all from the same two parents. The picture above is when they helped me move into Western Kentucky University my freshman year (Me; swag shirt.) Once upon a time big families such as mine were a pretty normal thing. Grant it this was before the age of contraception and other forms of family planning. My parents always told me that they were against anything that was against life.
My family has a pretty interesting story. See when I was a kid we lived in a small town and a small house. 3 bedroom and 2 bathrooms, with 8 kids and two parents at the time. My older brother and I shared a room while my 6 sisters all shared a room and then my parents shared a room of course.
Toby (My Dad) had a bachelors degree in organizational leadership. He worked in multiple different factories as a quality engineer. One year he received a promotion and was going to be making $40,000 a year. I was in the 6th grade (2007) and my parents decided to move to a house in a neighboring city. It was a pretty big upgrade from what we were used to. 4 Bedroom and two bath, in this home my 3 little brothers were born.
In 2009, 1 month before Christmas my Dad got laid off from his job. This was a hard time for my family. Not because we didn't have money but because of the strain this struggle put on my parent’s marriage. My parents wouldn't tell us much because they didn’t think we would understand. But we knew that they were mostly scared. Scared and clueless of what to do. My dad tried to get a job at other places. But nothing offered him enough to support a family of 11 kids (2009 was the recession). During this tough time, we prayed a lot. We prayed as a family and we prayed that my dad would find work.
That same year, my dad did something ballsy af. Something he had always wanted to do, he rolled the dice and started his own business. It was called Cross Check Quality Inspection. It was a 3rd party company that does quality inspections for manufacturing companies. He always dealt with companies like this as a quality engineer and thought he could do it better.
He did, it took a while but it took off. Doubling in size and profit each year of its existence. I can vividly remember my dad working anywhere from 15–18 hours a day for at least two years. My family built there dream house a couple years ago. 6,500 Sq. Ft. 7 bedrooms, 4 full bath and two 1/2 baths on a beautiful ranch in the same town that I grew up. I now work with my dads company and am blessed with the opportunities that it has given me. Today We’ve been in business for 7 years and have over 150 employees.