As a young person who was the most influential person in your life?

Question

Who had the most influence in who you turned how to be? Encouraged you, gave you good advise, believed in you, etc. Who was a role model, someone you admired and wanted to emulate? What did they teach you?

For me it was my aunt and uncle. Any unconditional love in my life I got from them. My aunt was a lobbyist and a farmers wife, and it was the two of them who made me realize there was a big world out there, and women could do more than be a wife and mother -

I remember running to my uncle one day and telling him there were fairies living down in the ravine. I was about 2 or 3 I guess, and I can still see him taking his cap of and rubbing his head and say "Well for gosh sakes I didnt know that?, My aunt came outside and he called her and said "Mildred did you know we have fairies living down by the creek? I think we had better go down there and have a look. I dont recall that I ever saw a fairy before but I sure wouldnt mind meeting them"

They were so good with children -

They never ever said "stop talking nonsense" or made you feel like a stupid little kid.

They taught me to have vision, to not be afraid of the world, that I was valuable and loved. And you should listen to kids stories, maybe there ARE fairies and we are too old to see them.

Because of them I wasnt afraid to leave home and try new things.

Against all odds every year my aunt tried to grow flowers, and they always died in the heat, and from lack of water. They had a well and had to be careful with their water. But every spring she would plant flowers again.

I guess from her I learned to never give up, that all we can do is try and do our best. And sometimes flowers are important - just because they're flowers.

Answer 1

The entire Little House on the Prairie cast, though mostly Ma and PA, because Charles was my ideal, and so I wanted to BE Carolyn so that I could have a man just like him beside me.

serious.

I have of course grown up since then, now I am my own woman, have opened up to my true self and discovered that I like men and women, and know I need no man beside me.

Answer 2

I had three: mom, her brother Uncle Harry, and her mother Grandma

Uncle Harry was 18 years older than me. He was the only adult that played with me when I was very little. As I grew he shared his spirituality with me, Bahia. I was 11 or 12 and it made a lot of sense to me. I also love to rub his Buddha's belly for luck.

Grandma taught me unconditional love. She could sew, knit, crochet. read. do crossword puzzles and loved roller derby. Grandma let me sing and be silly. She called it being happy. I can't remember her ever putting me down or judging me negatively. She was the one that kept all the family close. When she passed away, we all had to call each other to find out what was going on. She demonstrated how to stay close to my cousins and uncles. The importance of family values.

My mom loved everything I created. I sewed her a dress when I was in junior high. It was a princess style and I put the bust above her arm pits. She patched it and wore it all the time, She was my best friend, She was my life, She taught me good morals and how to sew, oil paint, carve leather and cook. She was very moral and honest.

Answer 3

My Grannie,she taught me everything I know.They lived on a farm. We grew,or made ever thing we had.I remember picking out the sacks of flour to all match (fabric) so we could make clothes from them after we used the flour.We slept on blankets that we made,yes even underwear.Later in life I became a seamstress,and made beautiful wedding gowns and party dresses.I had my own business for 11 yrs before I had to retire due to illness.If it hadn't been for my sweet little Granny,I would have never had the life I have had.She has and is always with me.

Answer 4

My dad taught me a love of animals and all things that grew. I remember teachers and what they said to me--one of these days you will get both of your feet in your mouth and fall on your ****---can't died in a corn field--there is no such word as mash--you cannot take over the class when I leave it for a minute--do not talk--do not laugh out loud when I am talking. Or, your IQ is way higher than your brothers and he is an excellent student and you just play around and pass your classes. My best remembrance was taking short hand as a Jr. in high school--when we started the class the teacher said some of us would be running track next semester--that would be me, the only F I ever got in my life. I did good in track, broke the girls broad jump record. My grandma in VA taught me to tat, to embroidery, to make butter, and I never liked watermelon so she would bake me an ear of corn. My Oregon grandma taught me to use the back door and shut my mouth.

Answer 5

My aunts and my mum I think . My aunt Astrid kept mum and me every summer with my eye surgeries , she was incredible. After her husband died and I didn't need to go to Illinois anymore, she packed up, join the american foreign service, lived in Afghanistan for three years in the late sixties and early 70s and then was in Washington DC at the state dept for another nine years. From her I learned to be an adventurist, that no matter what age you were you can go out and do whatever.

My aunt Eleanor never married, she had some mental health and addiction problems so I watched her and learned to seek help when I needed it and not feel shame about asking for help.

My aunt Dorothy supported me in whatever. I was the bee's knees much to her daughter's distress. She bought me wonderful outfits and shoes and earrings , took me to the ballet , taught me how to cook roast beef and chicken. Dorothy enjoyed life and lived it to the fullest until the day she died.

My mum was always there for me . She pushed me when I needed to be pushed. She and my dad made sure that , despite my disability I knew I was valued and loved and as good as anyone else. She taught me to stand up for myself and be independent. She also taught me empathy and dignity and what social justice means.

But the one influence I had whom I didn't know was my maternal grandmother who died before I was born. I was born on her birthday and as I grew stories about her and who she was had a profound effect and affect on me. Aunt Dorothy said to me that I was more like my grandmother than any of the cousins. I have her feminist bent, I think like her, I walk like her and sometimes I have the same facial expressions.

I've been so blessed to have such wonderfully strong capable women to be my major influences in my life.

Answer 6

God, Jesus and my Home Education teacher Mrs. Boyle.
When I was just 5 or 6 I got a hold of a handful of wooden matches and said, "if there really is a God and Jesus these matches will go off right now", well the matches went off the minute I got the last word out of my mouth! It did not burn my hand and you and I may know now that it was the carbon and heat of my hand that made the matches go off right? Well until I figured that out in the 6th grade(Iwas slow) God and Jesus were first and foremost in my life and I think that is a miracle. Then, my Home Ed teacher Mrs. Boyle was the epitome of beauty, grace and charm she helped me grow up with those qualities that mattered most....

Answer 7

You were lucky to have two people close to you who treated you like that, I didn't, I had my favorite musicians who I aspired to be like, people like Jimmy Page, Slash, Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Paul McCartney, and others (this was before I knew about the whole "sex drugs and Rock n Roll), but without their music, I'd be some non musically inclined guy working a minimum wage desk job, instead of making $60 an hour as an educated musician in a studio

Answer 8

My mother and father. We did not have much but my mother and father put me first and made sure I had a good education.

They taught me to be respectful of others, good manners, disciplined me when I needed it. We worked hard to earn the things we had. We did not envy others or want to steal from them.

I don't see this today as much. Usually children are spoiled to the degree they do not realize right from wrong. A real shame.

Answer 9

Walt Disney & my Great Uncle: Sherman Henry.
Walt proved you could be a kid from low income and turn your dreams into reality.
My uncle taught me the value of exploring all that is out there in the world and learning from it all.

Answer 10

It would have to be my mother, because I spent so much time with her. She took us for walks and explained what we were seeing (how to identify plants), she taught us how to pull the pistil from honeysuckle to lick the juice off the end, I watched her sew for hours, I listened to her play the piano and sing, I hung around in the kitchen when she cooked.

And my brothers took up wherever she left off. Mostly they were condescending, but even then I learned from them. Even now, though, one of them will laugh at me when I say, "Oh, I just LOVE . . ." Because they would tell me you can only love people or animals, not things.

My dad was part of the family, too, but I never spent much time with him except when he read us the Sunday comics. He worked for the government and spent much of the time in my formative years on trips to investigate contract compliance.

And my sister, too, but we spent entirely too much time scrapping. She's really just the neatest person, and I never knew it, then!