Jim Ragan's On The Move: On The Move

On the Move Want to know what it’s like moving across the country and leaving everything you ever knew? Standing at 6’2’’, this man is independent, physically and mentally strong, and won’t let anything stand in his way. He is a father of 3 and plays video games for a living. No, but really, Jim Ragan, at 52, works at Microsoft for the 27th year as a software engineer, starting in the year, 1988. He doesn’t like back-talk (especially from his daughter), enjoys keeping the yard and house clean, and loves humor. Jim is a lover of music and has a soft spot for animals. That’s what I know about my Dad right now, though, I didn’t know much about any of his past, so I sat down with my Dad to gain more knowledge on the man that stands before me today.

He tried to make the best of it, because there was no turning back now. “It was a good thing, it made me mature and again, open my eyes that the world’s bigger and places are different and there are so many new things to try.” The different lifestyles of the people back home in New Jersey and people in Seattle, shook him up a bit. All the new foods, stores, and just ways of life in general, took some time getting used to on Jim’s part. “It made me mature in a lot of different ways, they were all positive ways, I have no regrets about it…” If it wasn’t for his move, Jim wouldn’t have met my mother, Kathy, at the University of Washington and started his career as a graphic designer. Jim graduated from Bothell high school, knowing very little what he wanted to do. He went into college, taking classes that were required and trying different classes, to see where he fit in. “I was interested in computers, but that was all new then, it was just taking off at the time, so there weren’t a lot of classes I could take in high school, so I kind of had to feel my way. I took some classes, but I wasn’t, I didn’t have a good background in it, and probably not enough of a background in it to really be good at it college.” Jim mentions, getting excited about what he loves to do. Out of desperation, he joined an art class because of his love of drawing at a young age. When people started

Growing up without a mom, he had to learn how to take care of himself, how to lookout for himself, and how to treat others. “You’re gonna need to take care of yourself for most, no one else is going to do it for you…” Jim said firmly, picturing how his dad told him the exact same way. These actions led him to understand how to be the bigger person and how to be more mature. “My mom passing away made me grow up really quick. Because a lot of the reality of the world and how it works suddenly opened me to the realization that this happy life I had, isn’t always going to be happy…” He says as he looks off into the distance as if remembering the hard time. But, that realization got him to understand life more, he suddenly knew that you can’t always depend on someone or something, because sure enough, it’ll change, and people need to know how to handle that. Looking into the future, when asked what he would like to see, Jim responds with, “My future would be great if I just got to stay around long enough to see… many things that are just changing… That’s what keeps me going is just kind of watch these things develop and people’s imaginations and things they dream up actually come true, that would be my