Personal Childhood Web

The first person that I think of from my childhood that I made a really strong connection with was Jimilena, my mom.  She had me at an early age which is profoundly amazing that I have been able to achieve so much in my life.  My mother dropped out of school when she was 16 and she had me the next year.  She always struggled in school and had no interest in returning.  I am proud to say that she always made education a priority in my life though.  She would sit down with me and work with me on what she could.  She encouraged me to follow my dreams.  My mom instilled in me the values of hard work and determination.  These values have helped me to see that there is a way to get things done just not the same way each time.  My mom had a very difficult life and our family dynamics were just as difficult but she has always been there to listen and to give a helping had when I really needed her to be there.  My mom made me feel special by showing me that she was proud of how hard I worked in school and in our family.  Even now I strive to make sure that I am making her proud of me and everything that I do.  She is who I look to for approval and support. 

My grandma Peggy also had a profound influence in my life.  She would spend hours working with me on little projects and building new things.  She is very crafty and as a small child I would always beg to do those things with her.  She would also make sure that I knew that education was the most important thing.  It always came first.  If I would go to her house to stay the night she would always say, "have you got your lessons done".  If I didn't then she would say I had to finish those before we did anything else.  My grandma was also the one who I felt most loved and comforted by, she would make me special gifts and do special things with just me.  I always knew that if I needed something I could go to her.  I was very lucky to have a grandma that had the time and resources to provide fun and loving memories.  I knew I was special because she showed it all the time in everything we did together.  Even now my grandma is a huge part of my life.  She makes special gifts for the students in my class.  She puts together special quilts for my kids and does special things with them.  She has helped to make me a loving and caring mother and also a caring person.

I am very lucky that I was able to have such a loving family.  My Aunt Shirley also had a very big influence in my life when I was younger.  I would spend weekends in the summer at her lake house.  She would take me to church and she would always talk about my future.  Even when I was very small she would talk to me about when I went to college and how I would need to do this and do that.  She was a very logical person and very conservative. It was very valuable to have a conservative influence to balance out my very liberal raising.  She helped me to see the other side of issues and to think things through keeping the result in mind.  She would make me feel special because she would take me out to lunch and I would get to pick where we ate.  She would take me on shopping sprees. My aunt would teach me to do new things and to be brave when I was scared.  I think that having her in my life is one of the main reasons I chose to go to college and work hard to achieve my goals.  She would always make college sound like it was mandatory and insist on me setting goals to reach achieve that end result.  My mom fostered a love for learning and my aunt pushed me to continue even when I didn't think I could achieve that goal. 

My aunt Dee Dee is also a big influence in my life.  When I was small she was always the fun and exciting aunt.  She would throw caution to the wind and do crazy spontaneous things.  She spoiled me with anything and everything she could get her hands on.  She always made me feel loved and she showed me to love unconditionally even when it seemed crazy to do so.  Now I think the biggest influence she had on me was that she went to jail for drugs.  She got a very big sentence and she has spent most of her adult life in jail.  I think that coming from the life style that I was raised in it would have been very easy for me to slip into that pattern of life.  When my aunt went to jail I was so sad and just horrified for her.  I was very street smart when I was a child and I had known what she was doing the whole time she was doing it.  It didn't effect me so I stayed clear of that aspect of her life.  As I think back to that time I didn't realize why it was so important for her to go to jail. Now I understand it and I know that she will be better for it.  She impacted me so much because I was able to see how drugs can rip a family apart.  In my adult life I have tired to be a support to her and to visit her while she is serving her time.  I have tried to help keep her connected to our family and to include her even when she can't be there. My aunt taught me the value of staying clean and clear away from that life because all it gets you is more trouble.  I think that if I didn't have her in my life to make it so clear for me I would have easily made those same mistakes.  

I am very fortunate that I have so many people in my life that I knew loved me.  Lastly my Uncle Freddy was a big influence when I was small.  He was in high school when I was starting kindergarten and he lived with us.  He would always keep a look out for me on the bus.  There were many times that because he was there I was picked on or made fun of because he would stand up for me.  My uncle would also do fun things with me like play games with me.  He would be silly to cheer me up.  He would just be there if I needed someone.  I think that it is amazing that I have been able to have so many good influences in my life.  My uncle would always support my mom in saying that school is very important.  He had to work very hard at school and he now is a paramedic and he is currently a fire chief.  As a child watching him do some crazy things I was able to see his passion for helping others and it made me want to be that passionate about something when I grew up.  I can easily say that I chose the right field for me.  I am very passionate about my job and my uncle had a part in helping me to make that choice.  

When reflecting on how these people impacted my life I can't help but think about how lucky I was as a child to have so many people that loved me.  We went through some tough stuff and I saw some things that children really shouldn't see, but I had such a great base of support that loved me and wanted what was best for me.  These people still influence me every day.  I strive to make these people proud and to want to achieve the best for my children because they instilled those values in me as a small child.