Personal Childhood Web

NANA- The most influential person in my life was my Nana.  She was so much more than just my grandmother.  She was my mentor and my number one supporter!  I was her favorite and she was not ashamed for the world to know it!!!  Growing up, I would spend every summer with my Nana.  My parents would take me to her house the weekend after school let out and I wouldn’t come back home until the weekend before school started back.  During this time, my Nana and I were inseparable!  She taught me several life lessons that will be with me forever.  She showed me the importance of family.  We used to sit and look through photo albums for hours while she told me stories about family members I never had the honor to meet.  To her, family was everything, which is probably why I feel like it is my job to make sure everyone stays connected.  She also made a huge impact on my spiritual life.  She indirectly taught me the importance of an actual relationship with God, not just the Sunday morning church service I was used to.  She took me to church every time the doors were open.  Together, we would sing the old hymns, read the Bible and pray.  Every night, she would go to the bathroom where she would have her quiet time with God.  I can remember hearing her praying for me, for God to keep his hand of protection around me, to bless me and to fill me with his Holy Spirit.  Because of my Nana, I not only accepted Christ as my Savoir but I have had a loving relationship with my Master for almost 20 years.  My Nana has been my rock for 30 years.  In May of this year, she went to be with the Lord.  That was probably one of the hardest times of my life but looking back, I know that I would not be the woman I am today if it weren’t for my Nana!  Because of her, I know that I can do anything I put my mind to.   

MOM- My mom has loved me and nurtured me since day one!  Growing up, I always knew my mom loved me, even when I refused to see it.  I can remember laying beside my mom on the couch while she watched tv and played with my hair.  She wasn’t super affectionate but little things like that always made me feel special to her.  My mom taught me that hard work and dedication pays off in the end.  She has always worked two jobs and I have never heard her complain about it.  She instilled in me a work ethic that made me strive to do better, to be better.  She made sacrifices for me when I was younger to put me in a private school.  She could have quit one of her jobs and made me go to a public school but instead, she showed me that my education and future mattered more to her.  When I was a teenager, people used to always say that I talked like my mom or did things like my mom.  I would just roll my eyes and say no.  Today, I am proud to say that I am just like my mom

DAD- Growing up, my dad and I always had a different kind of relationship.  My dad never hugged me or told me he loved me or any of that but I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that my dad would do anything for me.  My dad showed me he loved me in his own way.  I used to get out of school and have to sit with him for an hour or two while he finished working at the steakhouse.  I would sit and watch him cut meat and I hated it.  He knew I hated it but there really wasn’t anything he could do about it.  One day, he put me to work and spent entirely too much time telling me all about the different cuts of meat and showed me how to weigh the hamburger patties and the beef tips.  That was how my dad told me he loved me!  That was “our thing”.  Years later when I was old enough to have a “real job”, I actually went to work at that same steakhouse with my dad!  He would ride my butt and embarrass me but looking back, I know that it was his way of teaching me how to do a job the right way.

My parents and I