My Role Model

I've had a lot of role models through my life and I am grateful to all of them. My very first role model I met when I was 13.

I won't bore you with a lot of details of childhood days. Briefly, "dad" should have been locked away or shot before he ever had children (he was a creep of the creepiest kind), and mom was way to young to have started having a litter of children (she was 16 when she had me and continued to have more and more kids all of which I had to take care of while she slept all day and partied most of the night with her teenage friends).

In my teens I met a wonderful social worker, her name was Sue. At the time I was grateful for her attention and caring. She took me to her home for a few overnight visits over the years that I knew her. She taught me how to cook some very cool recipes. It would take me many years though to truly realize the gifts that she gave me then. The gift of being part of a loving, normal family even though it was only for a few brief days at her home. And for the years that I knew her the gift of really listening to me, being honest with me when every other adult in my life had lied to me, and also the gift of hope and courage. Hope that life could be better, that I could make it, that I could achieve and have a life that wasn't filled with pain and poverty. Courage to stand up to adults that were cruel, wrong and often stupid; courage to tackle college and make changes in my life and myself in spite of hardship, pain, and tears.

Later as an adult I came to work at college in the theater department. I loved working with the students, helping them with assignements, learning lines, etc. As time went on I would run into a student or two now and then and would get a big hug and a thank you for all I did for them. It always brought tears to my eyes. I didn't do anything special, except treat them the way my role model treated me - with respect, helpfulness, and honesty.

It's the little things in life that truly matter and making those connections is so important. Because you never know who you might be a role model for or how much of a difference something you do for someone else can make in their lives that will change them forever.

Lady Rose, author of Diet Pulpit (the blog with fattitude!)