reflection # 3

There are many things in my life that have helped shape me into who I am today. My childhood especially has affected me and molded me into who I am. My parents separated when I was in first grade. I am the youngest of three girls by 3 years so my sisters never wanted to hang out with me because of my age. With my mom working three jobs I learned to be very independent and do things on my own a lot. At the time I didn't like it much, but I believe I had to mature a bit more than others my age, and now I am so grateful for having to learn that at a young age because now I am very independent and I now actually hate to depend on others. I'm very happy I didn’t grow up as a child being spoiled and babied all the time.My grandfather has my favorite memories in my childhood. I have birthday pictures of every year and my Grandpa was always there next to me and the cake. Even when I was too young to remember he would be there holding me up as a baby. He would always pull my hair, pinch the tip of my fingers, or have candy in his shirt pocket to share with me. He would always be telling jokes or doing a "project" on his house. He taught me how to be neat and use notebooks. He loved watching Laker games and made me watch them too when I wasn't interested in basketball in my younger days. Now I watch them all the time and think of all the memories I had with him yelling at the T.V. "No! Kobe didn’t foal anybody!". He was an amazing pianist, always playing for the family and teaching me about Beethoven and Bach. Now I am learning to play the piano. A year ago he had trouble with his heart so he had an emergency operation to have a pace maker put in him. I was so worried for him and visited a few days later. He showed me the scar they left and joked if I wanted to touch it. He taught me that even through sad and difficult things you can still find the humor in things to make others laugh. Even when he was diagnosed with stomach cancer he managed to keep living life as if nothing was wrong. He was the biggest impact in my life and I will never forget him. He is the reason why I am the way I am. I try my hardest to be positive, see the humor in everything possible, and always keep learning for more.