In the year 1998, my grandparents opened their arms and their house for my brother, my Mom and I. My Mom was a recently divorced young single Mom of two great kids. She was only 19 years old when she had me and 18 when she had my brother. She could not do it all by herself, so my grandparents opened their home to us.

They helped raise my brother and I; taught us from right and wrong. They were there for us when we went through our horrible teenage years and did not love us any less.

Throughout all of my years, I never went without anything I needed. I always had clothes on my back, food to eat and a brand new backpack for school each year.

I had all the school supplies needed, each of them had my name on it. My grandmother packed my lunch for every day, all the way up to my senior year of high school. She would write notes and leave them in my lunch which was embarrassing at first, but eventually, I started to look forward to those little notes.

At a young age, I learned how much it meant to be kind to someone. You never truly know what someone is going through and it is just easier to be kind. We always ended a phone call with "I love you' and before we left the house we always gave each other a hug. We said goodnight to each other every night and good morning as well.

I also learned that nothing will grow without a little resistance. My grandfather told me this one day when we were planting some sunflowers. Although he was talking about plants, this philosophy can be applied to just about everything in life.

My grandmother taught me that it is good to be kind, but do not let others walk all over you. She taught me that I have a voice and I should not be afraid to stand up for myself or my friends. She taught me that small things CAN leave a huge impact on someones' life.

My grandparents always encouraged me to do anything I wanted to do. From singing, being a fire woman, a writer, a painter, a neurologist, or even a Night Desk Assistant I always had their support. When I told them I wanted to have money they told me money was good, but that should not be the sole reason I should go after something. If I do that, I would never enjoy my future job. They have always told me to do my best and as long as I do that, I will never fail.

I grew up going to a variety of different churches which led me to form my own thoughts about religion. My grandparents also had our best interest in mind and made sure we were well-rounded individuals that could develop our own thoughts and opinions, and voice them in a mature way.

All these things have made me a better, smarter and wiser person that I am today, and I thank my grandparents for that.