The people who most helped me to become the person that I am are my grandparents. My paternal grandparents took me in at birth and raised me until I was ten years old. I have come to realize that my confidence and security comes from the loving environment in which they raised me and the sense of value that they instilled in me. My maternal grandparents raised me from age ten to sixteen. It was in their home that I learned the value of hard work, integrity, and how to have fun. I love to laugh, and I know that comes from the joy that filled their home.

Both sets of grandparents were very peaceful people who demonstrated their love for one another throughout marriages that lasted more than fifty years. Their lives taught me the importance of stability and provided a model for marriage that has been invaluable. Most of all, their unselfishness in raising me, after raising nine and twelve children of their own respectively, has taught me how powerful it can be when we pour into the lives of others.

I recognize that I stand on the shoulders of many others, but my grandparents serve as what I call the architects on which God began the building process for my life. They are truly the foundation for my desire to impact the lives of others and to be a person of significance.

Who are some of the people who have helped you most to become the person that you are? Who has encouraged or inspired you to do your best? How have they helped you?

Let’s talk about it.

Dr. D’