My grandparents had 8 kids, seven girls and one boy, my mom is the youngest. I think my grandparents did a good job because all my aunts and uncle are very successful. Their jobs don’t really matter to me but the fact that they all are very strong-willed and independent women (not including my uncle) really influences me. My grandpa had three main rules growing up, the main two were “you were going to go to university and “it wasn’t going to be in Thunderbay” (where they grew up).To me this rule means a lot more than it sounds. He always tried to get you out of your comfort zone in a good way. Whether it was putting me in house league soccer and a young age or convincing me to play with the strange little girl in the playground. These experiences that he pushed me to do may seem small, but they made me a more confident person.  By being pushed out of my shell with small things, I in turn push myself and go on and do bigger things.

He also taught me to never give up. He would arm wrestle me or come to some of my many sports games and encourage me to never give up. He certainly showed me this. The doctors told our family that they didn’t think he would make it 7 times. Every time he got back up and out of that hospital bed and you would see him at the next family party chattering away like nothing had ever happened, like he was the healthiest person on earth. He proved to me that even on your death bed, if you don’t give up, you will rise to the top.

But the most important lesson my grandfather taught me was to always stick to your family. He brought up my aunts and uncle to be very close-knit and they have stayed that way. Every aunt and my uncle had kids so my family is very large and never boring, but we all see each other a lot. That is really important to me because there is a lot going on but through all of it we manage to stay a family.