I was surrounded by family throughout my childhood. I was more fortunate than most in this aspect. I'd like to introduce you to my family and tell you a little bit about how they each influenced and supported me in my younger years.
Dad- My father is a strong man. He worked hard and still does to this day. My parents didn't have much so he did whatever he needed to make sure we had a roof over our head and food on the table. He spent a lot of time teaching us that nothing in life is free. If you want it then work hard for it. My father didn't go to college after high school. When I was about 10 he went into the police academy. This had the most impact on me because I saw how hard he had to work and how much more difficult it was for him trying to take care of 3 young girls and juggle 2 jobs. I was so proud of him when he graduated and I still remember that night to this day. It made me realize that I needed to go to college straight from high school and not wait for tomorrow with what can be accomplished today.
Mom- My mother made our house a home. She taught me to be independent and to rely on myself to get to where I want to go in life. Although my mother did a ton of things with us as children and worked extremely hard to provide for us it wasn't until I turned 20 that I learned the most important lessons from her. I hold in me now an even deeper feeling of importance for my family. My husband, son, and I are a tight knit unit and I don't know if our lives would be the same had certain events in my life with her hadn’t occurred.
Nanny & Poppy (mom's side) - My grandparents are like a second set of parents to me and my sisters. My parents went to work extremely early in the morning (4:30am) and they would drop us off there. My grandparents would get us ready for school, make us breakfast, and get us to school. We'd return after school and they would help us with homework and make dinner for us. We learned how to cook, clean, and how to fix things. To this day my sisters and I say their house is the "safe" house. No matter what happens in life you can always go to Nanny and Poppy's house.
MomMom & PopPop (dad's side) - My MomMom and PopPop showed me a tremendous amount of love as child. My grandfather would say I was his favorite. I learned the value of hard work from them. My grandfather had a bird shop and my grandmother was a homemaker with 5 children! My PopPop always told me how important it was for me to go to college. He never missed a beat to tell me how proud of me he was. He showed me this support and love all the way until the day he passed away. I miss him more than I could ever tell you. He impacted my life and my sisters in a way we will never forget.
Megan- Megan is my middle sister and she doesn’t let people forget it. We are a year apart in age. We were and still are each other’s best friend. We did everything together as children. We played on the same sports teams, had the same friends, and even got into trouble with each other. We are each other’s support system. I know if there is ever anything I need or just need to vent she is there. My relationship with my sister is where I learned the importance of being a mentor. I always wanted to set a good example for her and I hope I did.
Kathryn- She is my youngest sister. We are about 6 years apart. Growing up she showed me the importance of patience because I felt I had to excerpt it so much! I didn’t understand her all the time as she was always in my room, trying to wear my clothes, and makeup. The age difference made it hard. We were close though despite all of the differences. We have this bond that is unbreakable and I think it is safe to say we are extremely protective of each other.
Nicole, thank you for sharing such wonderful information about your family. I agree with you that my mother made our house a home. She was the one that was always there for us. I think that it is amazing the influence that mothers have on their children. I heard a quote in a movie once that made me think. It said "mother is the name for God on the hearts and lips for all children." I believe that this is true because our mothers are the ones we always go to for help even after we are grown.
ReplyDeleteNicole I really loved to read your Childhood blog. It brought back so many memories about the true meaning and love a family has.
ReplyDeleteNicole,
ReplyDeleteI loved your post. As a child my family moved a lot and therefore a lot supportive connections were lost, no Facebook in those days ;). My husband and I made the decision to live very close to my family, which has led to a very extensive extended family thanks to my brother in law Jeremy. I hope that my children will be able to count grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins as members of their support system as they get older and have loving connections as you have had.
Nicole, your passion and love for your family is apparent. It is great that your family placed such a heavy emphasis on your college education from the start. I did not have that, probably since neither of my parents attended college. As for siblings, I am a twin and wished for a long time for a little brother or sister. Instead, we had a string of step siblings that were either way older or apathetic to the prospect of having lifelong playmates. ow that I am grown, even siblings may not remain the closest of "friends" as they age, and we did not age well together. We are better now that she lives in another county, but some bonds are easily broken and harder to repair. It was nice to read your blog about your family, very uplifting.
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