When a person tells you something like, “I'm honestly a really boring kind of guy,” you would do well to dig deeper. Odds are good they are wrong, and that is the case with Ryan Hopkins, Omaha native and Bluestone's newest groundskeeper.

Ryan shares similar interests with 80-90% of other Bluestoners. He likes to spend time outdoors, especially fishing and skiing. For watching, it’s horror movies. “I like ‘creepy’ more than ‘in your face’, like a really cool premise.” And he really enjoys gaming of every sort—card games, board games, video games, and even mind games. “I like to argue with people online. Do you know what Discord is? I like to go to the politics Discord and yell at people every now and then about current events.” When asked if he is a troll, he replied, “I'll match the energy of the other person, that's what I'll say.”

At this point, you might be thinking you know what sort of guy Ryan is. This is when he shows you a little more of the iceberg.

“I'm 32 going on 33 and I'm in kind of a weird spot where I'm very experienced in a lot of different things, but I don't really have any aspirations or goals. Internally, I'm just trying to figure out what that is, but at the same time my family is kind of going through a lot of stuff.” His father is dealing with a serious illness, requiring multiple hospitalizations. As the firstborn son, Ryan feels a great deal of responsibility for his family's emotional well-being. “We are a very hands-off family. . . I feel like since we don't talk about any of our problems, I have to be the one to step up to be emotionally vulnerable to everybody.”

In a way, Ryan is really contradicting his claim regarding not having any goals or aspirations. Anyone who's ever tried to change their family's dynamic or wrestle with a lifetime of conditioning will understand what a huge undertaking this is. “I feel like, especially talking to some family members, that I should be more emotionally available for them. Especially my mom, she really appreciates it. . . I just want to try to be there for my family and step up.” 

And then, as if to lighten the mood, he says, “I also want to get back in the gym.” He was concerned that the conversation had been too heavy, but he didn't want to take anything back. However, he did want to end on a high note. “I quoted SpongeBob to HR, it was something profound. It was something like, you never know what a moment is until it becomes a memory, or something like that. If you want to, just put something inspirational at the bottom, a good finisher, you know?” Alrighty then!

“Always follow your heart unless your heart is bad with directions."

—SpongeBob SquarePants