I was asked….
“Most influential person in your world?”
Tough question. For many reasons. Fictional or real person? Past or present? This is the kind of question that changes every year. Or day sometimes.
I could say for past people it could be my Grandmas on both sides. My Grandma Gillespie taught me to be strong and carry myself with dignity; and in an indirect way how to defend my opinions when the other person isn’t in agreement; but in an old school, classy and respectful manner. My Grandma Salmond taught me how to be frugal not cheap and how to enjoy myself. It’s not what you own, how much you have but who you are with that is important to life. And to have fun. She taught me how to laugh at even the most tragic of situations. Grandma Salmond once told me that religion to her isn’t a church or organized. It isn’t one god or goddesses or specifics. It’s just the joy of the little things. Joy is religion. Smiles and Love are religion, she said, and that, to her, God isn’t a man or a woman. He may be a breath of wind or a ball of light. It isn’t anything and it is everything. Religion is just sitting on the grass or reading a book under a favorite tree or admiring the perfect beauty of a lily. That conversation is why I have the lily tattooed on my back.
If you look closely, you can see the lily on my back.
But they have not been my only or the most influential person in my life. I could say Josh but that’s fairly obvious. I could say my Mom for obvious reasons but what Mom hasn’t been influential??
I think currently it’s Isabella. My 3-year-old daughter teaches me that I have more patience and tenderness than I ever thought I did. She teaches me what Love is and what Frustration is, sometimes at the same time. She teaches me that I am capable of no holds barred unconditional love. She can make me cry or laugh in happiness. Isabella is the reason I know I am stronger than I have ever been and that if I want it bad enough there is a way to get it done. I would move mountains for that kid. For both of my kids. But because Izzy is a toddler I would say she is more influential currently. She is my little mirror. When I am saying the wrong things or being goofy, there she is mimicking it. Sometimes not right away… but eventually she’s my mirror, my copycat, even if it’s a couple of days later! If I do something unflattering; if I get frustrated and smack the counter or slam something in to a cupboard for example… and she does the same thing later, I can see how terrible that looks. She makes me a better me.
Isabella asks me all the tough or mundane questions that give me a new or unique perception of my world. And every day she makes me laugh.
So if I had to answer today I would say Isabella is it.
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