When I was in elementary school, I remember my teacher asking our class who was our hero. Many people chose people such as Superman, Batman, Chipper Jones, etc. However, my hero was special; that hero was my grandfather. Throughout the years of my life, I have not received as much influence from anyone other than my grandfather. He's a person I can depend on the most and he is someone who I look up to and admire the most.

When I was young, I was told, "You look just like your grandfather." Of course my naive, seven-year old self always took offense to this and always complaining to my parents, but they would only say to me that, "You'll change your opinion soon," and of course they were right. Though I didn't believe them, I would still to this day laugh at how I was so naive and how I react differently to that now and actually after years of maturity, I actually consider it a praise and I really appreciate and want to hear the phrase more often.

My grandfather is a person who I can talk to about anything, whether it's about food, sports, religion, and even politics and because of this I feel as if he is truly my best friend and despite living an hour away, i still keep in touch with the man who has deeply influenced my life. Eventhough he has been through many mishaps, such as being diabetic, having been a cancer survivor, and also having kidney transplant, he seems as if he was his old self many decades earlier. The joy he has given me and his influence throughout his life has inspired me to become just like him and I hope that I can be able to follow in his footsteps and succeed just like how he has.