I can name a good amount of people that have had a great amount of impact in my life. Someone that I feel that has had the most impact on me is my grandma on my moms side. She had twelve kids but had a few miscarriages along the way. She had three sets of twins. One of the set of twins were girls who only lived a few days because they were premature. She has expressed to me how hard that was for her and her family. My mom is one of the other sets of twins, which I think is funny because she also had my sister and I who are twins. People always say that it skips a generation but it clearly did not for us. As you can imagine when you have a lot of kids there are probably going to be a lot of grandkids. There are currently thirty grandkids and one great grandkid. We all call her “Mawmaw.”

There are many reasons why I look up to my grandma but one of them is because of how strong she is. Physically and mentally. She is constantly running around helping people. She is always the first one to be out lifting something heavy into a truck without telling anyone. She is an extremely hard worker. She will throw my teenage boy cousins into the pool and make it look easy. She is constantly wanting to do anything she can to help others. I know if I ever need anything I can go straight to her.

Like I said before, she is extremely strong mentally. She went through several miscarriages and lost a set of twins. Also, in 2011 my uncle died in a motorcycle accident. He was 23 years old and he was on his way to work with two other guys on their motorcycles. A lady driving a school bus was not paying attention and she ran through a stop sign which killed my uncle and one of his friends. The first thing my grandma did when she arrived at the scene was to approach the lady driving the school bus. She gave her a hug and prayed with her. I will never understand how my grandma was so forgiving of the lady that killed her son. This has taught me so much about life. It has taught me that no matter how angry or bitter you are at someone that it is not worth it. It will not make you feel any better holding a grudge. 

The most important thing my grandma taught me is to have faith. She taught me to love Jesus with all my heart and surrender my life to him. For as long as I can remember she has taught us about the bible and showed us how important it is to have a relationship with Jesus. This has changed my life completely for the better. She loves everyone no matter what you have done.

I would not be where I am without her. I look up to her and hope to take on some of the same traits she has. She gives me the best advice and always lets me know that everything will be okay. Just being around her gives me so much comfort and peace. I try to cherish the moments I have with her because I know she will not be here forever. I thank God everyday for putting someone like her in my life. There is nothing I could ever say to express how much she really means to me.