It’s not normal to grow up on a farm and have to work every day anymore. We expect to go out to eat, stay in hotels, and have friends that live near us. Nana grew up on a farm, and she worked every day with her family. She never stayed in a hotel or went out to eat until she was in high school. We may think she was deprived of many things as a little kid; however, she has never looked at her life that way. Growing up in a small town with a family that had never gone to college, she rose to the challenge and became the first person in her family to go to college. She went to college and decided to become a P.E. teacher. This was unusual for women to do at the time. She later decided to be a working mom and also worked out all the carpools for her kids. She was the sports taxi, plus she worked! She wanted to do everything she could for her family to be happy. You can always tell she is an optimistic person but also works hard with the smile lines on her face and the soft weathered hands. You realize just how great of a person with one look and that makes me want to strive to be just as hard of a worker and as kind as she is. Odysseus only wants to get home to be with his family because he loves them so much. My Nana loves her family so much that she would do all kinds of things to help us. In this way she is like Odysseus, she loves her family and will be willing to work hard for us no matter what.

My Mom’s mom is the first person in her family to have ever gone to college.
“I wanted to do something my family hadn’t ever done. Be a little different, and do something special.” Nana said. The fact that she went to college made her realize just how important education is. She made it known she expected all of her kids to go to college as well. She let her kids know how important education was in life, and this caused them to take their schooling even more seriously than they might have. Nana’s life has influenced all of our thoughts of education. The fact that she went to college has made it something that is expected in all of our futures. We all take this from her life and will use it to motivate ourselves on the path to college. Odysseus’ stories changed his son’s life as has Nana’s.
“I definitely think the fact that I went to college changed the way my kid’s thought about education. They all worked hard and got good grades and went to college. I am glad I could have such an effect on them in that way.” Nana said.

Nana decided to become a P.E. teacher because she felt girls needed to be able to be more physically active. Nana grew up playing sports in elementary school, but that all stopped in high school. She even practiced with the boy’s basketball team because they didn’t have many girls’ sports. She learned from her childhood how important it was to be active, and she wanted to be able to help all kids be active throughout their lives. The ultimate reason she was a working mom; consequently, was because she wanted her kids to have the money to go to college and participate in sports. Because she decided to work, this also meant she gave up a lot of social possibilities in her life. She feels that it was always more important for her family to have many education and athletic possibilities. Nana gave up a lot so that her family could have more choices. She was always willing to help her family get the most out of life.
‘I wasn’t deprived. I just didn’t grow up doing many social things. I didn’t make sacrifices, they were choices.’ Nana said.

She never looks at things in a negative way. She just doesn’t think that way. She knows that it takes hard work to get the things you want. She also thinks that you have to make goals and do things that some people might find out of the norm. She has always strived for things like this and hopes that the future generations of the family do so as well. My Nana doesn’t feel like she was deprived. She never went out to eat until high school but she still doesn’t feel she missed out on anything! She didn’t even go shopping much because she and her family didn’t have much money so used catalogs to order what they wanted. This surprised me, because she didn’t feel that she missed out on anything or ever made sacrifices. As she said they were choices and she made these choices to help her family. She had to do a lot of things to help them.

Nana will do many things to help her family. She knows to get what you want you have to work hard. She went to college because she knew how important education is, and passed that belief on to her kids. She worked a job so that she could build her family’s income, so that the kids could have more options in life. Nana never believed that she made sacrifices or was deprived of anything. She knew that maybe as a kid she worked harder than others, but she thinks that this gave her the work ethic needed to be successful in life. Having such a positive attitude has helped her get through hard things in life and be happy and positive for her family in hard times. My Nana is a hero just because of how hard she is willing to work for her family. She passes down her strong work ethic and belief in getting a good education to us so that we will also be successful. Odysseus was the same way; he was willing to work hard just to get back home to his family. Nana is much like Odysseus in the way that she loves her family so much and is willing to work hard at something for us.