Appreciation

I have been blessed to be around so many special, admirable people in my four years of

high school, and through the influence and presence of these people I have seen myself grow.

The person who has influenced me the most throughout my entire life, not just in the past four

years, is my grandpa. He is such a unique person and he is loved by so many. His character

shines and reaches the hearts of all who surround him with a light brighter than any other. Ever

since I was little I have looked up to him and without his influence I would not be who I am

today.

The memory of my grandpa begins in kindergarten when he first retired from managing

Foster Farms. My mom says that when she was younger my grandpa was very consumed in his

work which made it hard for him to be there for my mom and aunt. That was something he

always regretted. By retiring, he made the promise to himself that he would be present in the

lives of all six of his grandchildren. By being there I mean that he did not miss a single baseball

game and he drove us to and from school and practice everyday. My grandpa dedicated his entire

post-retirement life to his family and this is something I will always admire.

My grandpa believed in me my whole life and seemed more invested in my successes

than any other person. I remember my oldest cousin Jon, my brother Clayton, and I were having

a diving competition in my grandparent’s backyard. My grandpa was giving us ratings out of 10

for how good our dives were, but I could not dive, not at all. I would get scared of hitting my

head on the bottom of the pool every time, and because of this I resulted to doing pencil jumps.

Clayton and Jon would do the most perfect dives and receive ones and twos out of ten, then my

pencil jump would slide into the pool and receive a perfect ten. From this moment forward I
knew that my grandpa and I had a special bond that would shine forever. He swears that his

encouragement back then in the pool are what propel me through the water as a water polo

player and swimmer, and I truly agree with him.

Since the beginning of our unbreakable bond we have been even more connected through

talks about politics and the stock market, his amazing daily foot rubs, a mutual love for my dog,

and his patient training when it came to me learning to drive. My grandpa taught me more than

how far encouragement can bring people, but he also taught me what perseverance is. He is

diabetic, has kidney failure, heart failure, had a quintuple bypass heart surgery, nearly lost both

of his feet, literally died for 9 minutes, and has been through even more than those listed. Even

through all of this he has still persevered in order to be here for his family, and is still touching

the lives of so many.

Numerous people have mailed him, called him, and messaged him throughout the years

to tell him that he changed their lives and paved their successful future. Everytime a new person

that he feels like he barely even talked to reminds him of the impact he made in their life, my

entire family stands in aw, and thinks of how he has shaped each and every one of us. No matter

where I go in life and whether or not he is there to see all I do, I will never stop believing in

myself because of his love. When I fail I will get back up and remember that in my life I went

from doing pencil jumps to performing nearly perfect dives on a league winning team. My

grandpa will always mean the world to me, I am forever grateful for the impact he has made on

me.