Four by Four 12/8/13

1. Other than a wedding or child's birth, what's your proudest moment?

2. How many magnets are on your fridge? What do they represent?

3. Describe your best road trip ever.

4. As we get closer to Christmas, what do you most look forward to?

Dan Will

Dan Will

Wheaton Ill.

Southeast Student

1. I would say being accepted into college. It's the start of a new life, a new journey, and when I got the call to get here, I was real excited and proud to know that I was starting a new chapter in my life.

2. There's the Historic Preservation Association because I'm a part of that at SEMO, and there's a men's and women's basketball magnet because I really like basketball, especially college basketball. Back home at my high school there was a teacher whose son had this really rare disease, and so they had a basketball game and they called it "Jack's Army," and I have that. So a little piece of home. I have three.

3. I'm going to say when we went to D.C. -- that was really the first time I got to drive, I was learning how to drive so that was the longest I'd ever driven, and D.C. is a pretty neat place. I went with my family -- my mom, my dad and my sister and my aunt. It was a fun road trip, especially as we got closer to D.C. My dad can be kind of a fast driver, and my aunt gets really nervous so he's weaving in and out of traffic and my aunt is just sitting there clamping on to the hand rail.

4. Going back home. That's always nice, especially after finals. That can be a rough week leading up to and then including finals just because there's just so much stuff to get done and a lot of studying to do. Getting to see friends again, family that I don't get to see a lot because I'm down here. Just opening the presents -- that's always exciting.

Jennifer Gardner

Jennifer Gardner

Cape Girardeau

Student/stay at home mom

1. Probably when my daughter rode in a horse show, I was pretty proud of that.

2. We don't have many because it's not magnetic but we have some on the side. We have 10. I would say and they're utility, they're clips. We have pictures on there. and we have our shopping list, they're tools.

3. Following the Cardinals on spring training.

4. Breakfast on Christmas morning. We all work together to make breakfast. It's a special time because we have our breakfast, and we wait to open presents until we get out the fancy dishes and we sit down and have our breakfast and then we open presents.

Mia Kinder

Mia Kinder

Cape Girardeau

Notre Dame Student

1. My proudest moment would have to be making other people smile.

2. I don't have any magnets on my refrigerator.

3. We went to Italy two summers ago -- my mom, she's Italian. We rented a car and she drove stick shift. My sister and I had the maps out, no GPS, trying to navigate our way in the countryside. It was quite an experience; it was really hectic but it was so beautiful. It was kind of like a dream when I think about it now.

4. I would say, the weather, I like the colder [weather]. I like the atmosphere, Downtown they put up the lights. I get to go to Germany this Christmas to visit a cousin. I'm looking forward to my siblings coming home from college.

Calvin Garner

Calvin Garner

Cape Girardeau

Server

1. One of my proudest moments personally was when my mother actually told me how proud of me she really was. She passed away back in 2010; it's given me a lot of time to look back, and that has to be, when you realize that your parent is truly proud of just as you are as a person, I guess a lot of people don't hear it anymore because we are so caught up in this technological world. Just to hear those words from a parent, to say, "I'm proud of you." I'll never forget it.

2. I probably have around seven and most of them represent local businesses around town.

3. My best road trip ever? Rides with my mother. We used to take Greyhounds [buses] when I was younger to visit my relatives in Michigan. Those were the most fun times ever. I'm the youngest of 15. Just that one-on-one time with mom, traveling all the way from the Bootheel of Missouri to Detroit, Mich.

4. I guess what I'm looking most forward to is spending time with family and friends and reflecting on all the actual amazing things you have to be thankful for beyond all the material things, because the world is just too caught up in that. Just to think back about all the things, not the material stuff, just things in life to be thankful of.