The people in my personal childhood web are my mother, father,
brothers, nana, grandmother and 4H leader.
Mother
My mother is
one who still continues to influence my life the most. I spent most of my childhood days with her before
I went to school. Growing up she supported me with whatever it was that I
wanted to do or try. I can’t begin to
tell you everything I tried, almost every type of dance, lots of instruments,
sports and cheerleading. I always knew
whatever I did that my mother would be there in my corner. My mom would make me feel special by always
coming to my extracurricular activities and just spending time with me. I still
talk to her at least weekly for advice and to stay close with her.
Father
I have
always been very close to my father. My
whole life he has worked more than he has had to in order to give his family
everything they needed and often wanted.
My father would always encourage me to try new things. The way he made me feel special was asking me
to help him do things and taking me on special trips with just the two of us. We both have a love of animals so my father
would often take me to the duck pond or a local petting zoo to feed the
animals. I still value the advice my father gives me, and even my husband has
come to include my father in his web of support.
Brothers
My brothers are a lot older than me so their roles with me
have changed. When I was younger they
used to do everything for me. I would point
to something and they would get it for me and I never got any feedback or
instruction. They never made me use words. Unfortunately I ended up having to
go for speech therapy because I wasn’t talking.
They would read to me and spend time playing with me and my toys. When I got older my brothers became more
protective of me and took more of the role of a father. Now, unfortunately, we
have grown apart for a multitude of reasons but they had a significant impact
on my developmental years.
Nana and Grandmother
Both my Nana and Grandmother lived with me at different points
growing up. They were very important to
me, partly because they were the only grandparents I had. My grandfathers had passed before I was born
so I only knew of them from what they told me.
My maternal grandmother would always let me play teacher with her. She would sit for hours while I made up
homework for her and taught her songs.
My Nana, my father’s mother, showed me the importance of family heritage
and culture by always talking about Sweden.
She spoke Swedish to me often even though I was not able to understand. She would show me pictures of where her
parents grew up and would teach me how to make some Swedish foods.
Unfortunately they have both passed, but they were significant role models
during my childhood.
4H Leader
Although I did not meet my 4H leader until I was
almost ten years old, I still feel like she was a big influence on my
life. From the moment I met her she
placed me in teaching roles and encouraged me to do things like public speaking. I grew a lot during my time in 4H and was
able to discover that by the time I was a teenager how much I really enjoyed
teacher and being a mentor to younger children. As recently as last year she
called me to recruit me as a 4H judge and provide me with some mentorship.
