Personal Childhood Web

People I know who nurtured and cared about me when I was a child include; my Mother Gayle, my first grade teacher Mrs. Maxie, my Father Bob, my sister Allyson, and my Grandfather “Papa” Bob.

My mother Gayle was always there when I needed anything. She is one of four children, three girls and one boy. She read to me every night before I started school and taught me to write my name and say my alphabet. She was there when I was sick and in the hospital, taught me how to hit a ball. My mom was there for almost everything when I was little.

Bob, my dad was a work-a-holic when I was growing up with his own business on top of his full time job working in a shipyard. When I needed to have someone there to comfort me, there he was. My dad came from a hard working farming family and started working when he was eight years old and still finished high school.

Allyson, my big sister, was pretty much my live in babysitter. When I started school my mom and dad worked a lot and Ally was there to take me to baseball practice, music lessons, and classmates birthday parties.

My first grade teacher Mrs. Maxie was a great influence in my learning because she would take groups of students to her house for socials. Socials were where we could bake cookies or sit in reading groups just to communicate with each other. This interaction with other students in the class was an interesting time because the groups were always different so you interacted with all of the different students in the class.

“Papa” was the greatest person in the world to me when I was little. My Papa owned a construction company and took me everywhere he went. I do believe that is why I started in the construction field when I got older. He was a gruff old man that had a tough work ethic. Work came first, then play or anything else. When I was with him, I knew nothing bad would ever happen to me and that feeling of security was important.