Influential Person

Growing up with just a Mom, never planted our roots for long, had to look outside myself and my fractured family for the inspiration to strive for more. She was a strong, ambitious, glamorous, yet seemingly simple woman who kept herself grounded in one place for over 50 years. She traveled the world, took a year of just to photograph people and places that created poignant impressions on her during her youth. Now she has passed, so I reflect on the journeys she took during her sabbatical year. I occasionally ponder the meaning behind her fulfilled desire and the sense of achievement it must have brought her to travel and compile significant images. To honor oneself in such a a way is an eloquent nod, a consummation of the earlier stages of our existence. I will never know how deeply that affected her, not accurately anyway. I will continue to apply my perception of her experiences and the interpretations of others that knew her to grow as a woman. Her influence on me helped guide my choices as a student, young woman, and daughter. I aspire to become a better  woman, teacher, wife, and mother because of what I have learned through knowing her, my great grandmother Bette.