Leslie Gilbo 10/31/12
Eng.100 Essay#4 My Hero Everyone has someone who has had some sort of impact on their life, whether it is a positive or negative. This person may have the ability to influence someone’s character and significantly affect one’s life. Everyone has someone they look up to, learn things from, and may even consider their hero. My mother has had a very large, positive impact on my life and has helped mold me into the woman I am today. My mother found out she was pregnant at the age of fifteen, giving birth to me at the early age of sixteen. Being such a young mother forced her to grow up a lot sooner than everyone else. She had to make the decision to quit school and work full time to provide for me. This made her very independent. I, too, was a young mother, giving birth to my son at the age of eighteen, just three months before I graduated. My mother wanted better for me; she wanted me to finish school, unlike she was able to. She helped me, supported me, and pushed me until I walked across the stage to receive my high school diploma with both her and my three month old son in the audience. I’m not sure I could have done it without her pushing me along and showing me her own strength, the strength she has passed on to me. My parents separated when I was only one year old, putting more stress on my mother, but the unconditional love my mother had for me kept her strong and focused on providing a good life for me. She continued to work and support me, and soon went on to get her GED in order to obtain a better job to provide for me. My mother’s hard work and dedication has had a very positive influence on me. I have worked since the age of fourteen, even during my pregnancy and while going to school. Thanks to my mother, I am a hard worker and have been able to witness that hard work pays off. Although my parents split when I was at a young age, they have always managed to get along, and be civil for my sake. I lived with my mother, visiting my father on the weekends, but my parents always worked together and shared their time with me. My son’s father and I also split when he was at a young age. Although we don’t get along as well as my mother and father did while raising me, the relationship that my mother had with my father has influenced me and taught me that we can be civil and get along for the sake of our son. My mother has always put other people before herself, especially her children. She is one of the most caring people I have ever met. She has worked non-stop, providing for my brothers and I, making sure we always have what we want and need. Not only is she a wonderful mother, she is a great grandmother, showing my son the same kind of love that she has always showed me. Growing up and being raised by such a caring person with a heart of gold