My People

Coming from a very large family, I have more than enough influences on my life. Some who are good and some who I should probably stay away from but can't because I love them no matter what. But, In my opinion I think my biggest influences are my siblings. I am the oldest of 6. Although, we are not all blood related and some people might call us “Half” or “Step” but we don't like to use those labels because they seem to have a negative name to them through some eyes. From the beginning, It was always me and my two brothers Blake and Chase. We have the same Mom and Dad but from very young we had to learn that dad wasn't around a lot and it was just mom so being “Big Sister” came pretty quick to me. I helped the boys a lot, smelt a lot of poopy diapers, blamed them for my messes and even made them play dress up with me since I didn't have any sisters. We had this bond that most siblings did not have because of what we all struggled with and saw and we knew we were kind of on our own so we relied on each other. They are the reason I work so hard for everything now. 

After 5 years of just me and the boys, Haley came into the picture. Haley was My Mom’s new boyfriend's daughter. Finally, a girl. We hit it off immediately. She brought some dolls over, we didn't have to dress up the boys, it was amazing. But it turns out, girls want everything you want. They whine and they cry when they don't get their way, they scream and tell you they hate you? This is where I had to learn patience. I remember after a couple times of Haley coming around everything would be fine and then all of a sudden if I put on the pink dress she wanted I was in trouble. Turns out after 13 years of still living with Haley, nothing changes. If I put her laundry on her bed after it's done instead of on the side of her bed, she ignores me and ruins my stuff when I'm gone. Patiences is key when having a teenage sister. You're going to have your really good moments and your bad ones and that's okay because at the end of the day you wouldn't trade it for the world. 

In December of 2014 my family became blessed with my little sister Alex. We were all so excited because it was My Moms second girl and My mom and Mike's first kid together. She became my best friend. I wanted to do everything for her and with her. I would get nervous when she would sleep alone so I would set alarms in the middle of the night to go check on her. She was sassy and cute. I didn't think there was anything more perfect than her. I would brag about her to everyone, bring in pictures of her to class, take her on walks in the stroller, everything. I remember when she was old enough to start going to the babysitters and my mom had start going to work again but I was so nervous that I had to go to the meetings with my mom to make sure we were making the right decisions. Alex was my baby too and still is even at 8 years old.

On my dads side he never got married or had kids with anyone but in 2015 he met Tara. Tara lived in Wright City with her 2 kids about 15 minutes away from my dad and during the summer he introduced us to her and her 2 kids Taylor and Ethan. Ethan was a year older than me and Taylor was 2 years younger than me. Immediately we were a family. Tara and those 2 kids saved my dad more than they will ever know. My dad always struggled with relationships because he could never stay sober but something about them made him the happiest he's been in years which helped me get my relationship with my dad back. He was around all the time again. He came to my games, school events and took us on vacations. Something about them made my dad have a reason to start doing the right thing again and I will forever thank them for the best last 2 years I had with him before he passed in 2017.

Last but not least, there's Tommy. Tommy is my youngest brother who was born in 2018. Tommy was the last hope for the “Harting” bloodline to keep going and the pressure was on my parents so now there is a 14 year age gap in my household. Me and Tom are best buds. If I want mom to get us chick-fil-a while we are out I'll give Tommy “the look” and he knows what to do. Tommy was born tongue tied so saying “Marley '' is a little hard for him, so now we have nicknames. I’m Mark and he's Tim. We think it's the funniest thing in the world. Tommy has brought so much laughter into my life. He's like my little sidekick. He hugs me when i'm sad, loves to jam out to music in the car with me while eating mini dairy queen blizzards, and sometimes lets me do his makeup when his dad isnt home. He is the little light in my life that never fails to brighten my day and has influenced me to be the best big sister I can be.