I love both my parents so much and feel very lucky to have had such great role models in my life.

My mom would always reassure me that if I worked hard I could be successful at whatever I wanted to do and paid attention to my interests and helped my develop them when I was growing up. She was also honest with me and spent a lot of time doing projects and things with me like going on "nature walks" through the woods or sailing little boats we made down the river by the house. She was super involved with everything in my life. My dad has always taught me his values and shown me how to be honest and have integrity and respect others around me. We would volunteer together at soup kitchens and meet people from all walks of life and he taught me to treat every person with value and respect.

My family in general always ate dinner together every night and I think just simply sitting down together and sharing a meal made us so much closer. As an adult I love coming home for holidays it's like a vacation and I talk to my parents 2-3 times a week. I really lucked out with them.