Hi everyone,
This is my very first post on Steemit. This is quite personal but I truly want to share this with the world. Please read until the very end, to truly get a sense of the real moral of this post. I am not a professional writer, kindly.
Konnichiwa from Tai-an Tea Co.,
My name is Brandon Wright. I am the founder of Tai-an Tea Co. I was born and raised in a small wonderful town called Ada, Oklahoma. After graduating from East Central University, I moved to Kochi, Japan to start my very own organic Matcha green tea company. Moving to Japan was the best decision I ever made professionally and personally.
In high-school, I was very fortunate to be able to partake in an international exchange program with Ibaraki Christian High School in Japan. During my time in Japan I discovered Matcha and the Japanese tea ceremony. The tea ceremony lesson taught me to put more emphasis on the aesthetics of preparing a bowl of tea from our hearts, rather than focusing on the tea itself.
When I drank my first cup of Matcha, all of life's stresses were temporarily gone. I was in a moment of complete silence. I had an epiphany, I knew in my heart this was my dream company. Sometimes we get caught up in life's hardships and find it hard to ground ourselves. Matcha green tea is my own personal vice that gives me pure joy every time I take a drink.
Matcha and the Japanese tea ceremony have changed my life in many ways. I now look at life with more respect, purity, harmony, and tranquility. Astonishingly, these also happen to be the four principles of the Japanese tea ceremony.
I truly hope Matcha can give you the same happiness that it has given me. My heart is 100% committed to being the most caring, sincere, and honest leader I can be. Words cannot describe how excited I am for you to join me on this journey."
Your Matcha Family,
Brandon Lee Wright
Tai-an Tea Co.
Why am I sharing this? Many of you may think, this guy just wants exposure for his tea company. My only goal is to be able to be a role model for others in this world. This is a summarized version of my life's journey and my only true motivation in this post is to touch hearts.
As you read above I was born in Ada, Oklahoma. The population of Ada is 20,000 and that is being quite generous to be honest. My life for the first 5 years was just like everyone else. I had a mother, father, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends that loved me very much.
After the age of 5 my life took a complete 360% turn. My father was a Military man, and he wasn't home very often throughout my early years of life. My father retired from the Military right after my 5th birthday. He did so because he wanted to be able to be there for me everyday. I was quite young at the time but I still remember my mother crying sometimes because she missed him very much. When my father told us he we was retiring and coming home for good, an unthinkable accident happened. My father got struck by a Semi-truck while working construction weeks before he came home.
My father lived through that horrible accident. My father was on the brink of death many times but fought hard to survive. After going through over 50 surgeries, 1000's of hours of rehab, my father learned to walk, talk, and eat just like a new born baby again. Sadly we started to notice his brain and heart was not the same. Each month my father became more and more out of his mind and he completely lost control. He would beat my mother and I nearly every night. At the age of 8, I couldn't take seeing my mother being hurt anymore. I took a bat and hit him with it 1 or 2 times in the back because he was on top of my mom hitting her and then he took the bat away and struck me with it. After that night, I never saw my father again. I was relieved the he was gone but also sad because in my heart, I understood I lost my father.
I felt so bad for my mother more than myself. My Mother had been through so much pain and heartache. My mother loved my father very much. Some may think we gave up on him but there has to be a point where safety for your life overshadows love. Slowly each month that passed my mother and I got our lives back to normal as possible. I remember my mother having to work 3 jobs just to support me after my father was taken away. At the age of 12, I started mowing lawns near my home to help her the best I could with bills. She never wanted to take my money but I insisted on buying groceries for us.
That next summer I was starting to feel like normal child again. Then one day after school I got home and my mother was crying and I asked, "Whats wrong"? She told me my grandmother had stage 3 breast cancer and didn't have much time to live. My grandmother was my second mom in my eyes. Since my mother worked 3 jobs to support me, I spent 75% of everyday with her.
My grandmother passed away a few months later and my mother never let me see her in the hospital because how bad she looked after only a few short weeks. She wanted me to remember her beautiful smile and all the good memories we had.
After she died, I truly lost a part of myself. It was like half my heart had stopped all of them sudden. The next year of my life was very difficult . I had very little motivation but my mother did the best she could to make me happy. To help with my anger issues , I joined the track team and became a sprinter and I was actually really good. This helped the pieces of my heart grow back together again slowly. I still struggled often but this helped pass the time.
One day after track practice, I came home from school and my mother was crying. She sat me down, and said, "lately I haven't felt good Brandon. I took a trip to the doctor and had tests ran. Brandon, I have lung cancer and the doctors said, no treatment will help me get better." I knew at that moment, I was going to loose my mother too. I was a 15 year old boy, what did I do deserve this?
At this time, It was about 1 month away from my schools 9th grade graduation ceremony. I knew for my mother this was her last graduation to see me succeed. I wanted it to be special. I drew a picture of my mother, grandmother, and myself and framed it for her. I gave it to her with a letter right after graduation inside the school. It was a very special moment for us . The crazy part, is that my mother had a surprise for me as well. Soon as I walked outside to the parking lot, I see my dream truck waiting for me. I have always wanted a 1972 chevy stepside since I was young and she found one just for me. She handed me the keys of the truck and said this is my High-school and University graduation for you. I will never forget that amazing day for the rest of my life.
My mother battled cancer for another 5 months but then passed on. A miracle did happen on the day she died. I got a phone call from the hospital saying, you need to come right now, because she doesn't have much time. I hurried to my truck and raced to the hospital. Only for my truck to run out gas(gas dial had broken and didn't know) and it was the worst timing. I have never been much of a prayer giver but I prayed and prayed for him to hold on to her just so I can say goodbye. After getting gas, I ran to her room and soon as I looked into her eyes, 10 seconds later, all I heard was beeeeeeeeep..... At that moment my life was forever changed. I was so thankful my mother had the strength to see me one last time before she passed on. I remember standing there in shock like it was a dream for a good minute. Soon I began to scream, punch walls, kick chairs and yelled out every cuss word that my mother told me never to say. It was truly the hardest day of my life.
At the age of 15 years old, I have gone through more than what most do throughout their entire lives. Not that I am judging others but many people would turn to alcohol, drugs, sex or some other influence that is never going to cure a broken heart. I told myself to be strong for my mother. Days before she died, she said please be the first person in our family to college. You are so smart compared to everyone else in our family. We all think you will do great things in life as you get older but to do those things you must work hard everyday and never give up.
After she died her words stuck with me but I was really depressed. I had to get a job, my own apartment, and I never got to enjoy a normal high school experience. During the summer of my last year of high-school, my school gave me a free plane ticket to Japan for a 3 week exchange program. During my time short time in Japan, my life completely changed. I fell in love with Japan and the traditional culture. My passion to succeed came back and I said to myself, " Mom this is for you".
When I got back to the States, I enrolled into University and it took me 7 years to complete my degree. 3 years into my degree program, I got a viral infection that nearly killed me. I lost 30 pounds in 3 weeks and was hospitalized but I had no money for basic necessities. I lost my car, my apartment, and I had to drop out of school. My student loans went into default and my life was taking a turn for the worse. I just told myself, do this for mom, do not give up on her. After about 3 months of battling this sickness I started to slowly get my life back together. I enrolled back into University 2 years later and completed my degree program.
I started applying to ESL jobs in Japan because it was fastest way for an American to get a visa in Japan. I had an interview 1 week after graduation and then 3 weeks later I was in Japan. Over the past 3 years now, I have worked as hard as I can to create my dream company. I may never be rich in the terms of money with my career choice but I have all I need in life. I now have a beautiful loving wife, a stepson that is going to high school soon, and my dream Matcha company.
I wanted to share this story because we all go through hardships in life. The only way to truly succeed in life is to never give up. Always push forward no matter how bad times get because life is not forever. It does not matter what race, color, gender, or religious background you have. All you truly need is heart. Heart is the most powerful tool in the world. If you have read to this point, then I hope I have impacted your life. If i did just by 1% then I am most grateful. There is so much hate and racism in the world today but I believe humans can bring back the love and peace. In order to do so, we must love one another and give praises to other.
The word "succeed" in my eyes has nothing to do with money, university degrees, expensive cars or a great big house. Success is measured by the size of your heart figuratively speaking. So many people based their lives on their physical possessions and the size of their bank accounts. After going through many trails in my life, money was never something I cared for or longed for. All I ever truly wanted and needed was a family again. My wife and son love me very much and for me there isn't a better feeling of success than that.
Money is important to have to take care of your family. Naturally we need an education and career but please do not let the career consume your heart. You can always change careers but everyone needs love and affection. If anyone who has read this post and has had a near perfect life in regards to major trails then I hope you understand how blessed you truly are. At the same time, if I never went through all of those tragic times in my life, I know, I would have not met my wife, son and I most likely never have went to Japan in high school. At this point in my life, I have learned to respect my childhood and everything that came with it. My past has molded me into a strong, loving, passionate man, husband, father and now entrepreneur. My passion has grown more strong to protect my family and to give them a great life they deserve.
I want to be a role model for children in this world. I hope my story can help those who are hurting in their hearts. I truly know that every child in this world can achieve their own success but they must have heart and passion to do so. In fact, I teach English part-time because I really love children. The children of this world are the future, we must give them hugs, respect, love, encouragement and the belief that they can achieve their goals.
With love & support,
Brandon Wright