Niki's Childhood Web

My mother, father, sisters, and both sides of my family including my grandmas and cousins all had impacts on me as a child.  I guess really all our surroundings have impacts and make us who we turn out to be, but these I mentioned are the most special to me. I should mention that I am from Arkansas. That's where I grew up.

My mother was the foremost and most important person to me because she was always there for me.  She did most of the caring for myself and sisters growing up.  She was there for me all the time.  She worked part of my childhood, but was a stay at home mom for most of it.  She cooked breakfast for us in the morning and she would have us something to eat after school when we got off the bus in the afternoon. She is a loving mother,  We were a "touchy" kind of family.  We hugged, kissed, and loved on each other.  I would sit in my mothers lap, even as an adult.  My mom would do anything for me. 

My father is also an important person to me.  He was more of the disciplinarian growing up. I wasn't as close to my dad when I was young.  He worked alot and hunted in  his free time.I always knew my dad loved me though. He just had so many things going on in his life. He was a farmer and stayed busy with all the things that go with that. He farmed with  his dad and brothers. He retired this year and they sold most of the farmland and equipment, so that had been a drastic change in his life.  He has changed so much since he has gotten older. I'm closer to my dad now than I am my mom.  He is the one who calls and checks on me at least once a week if I don't call him first. My dad is the one I talk to most nowadays in my family.

My Grandma Hill is my mothers mother.  She has passed away now, but when I was younger I loved to spend time with her.  I would go to her house if I got sick during the school day when my mom was working.  She would baby me and cook for me and do things with me.  I always loved spending time at her house.   She always had a lot of magazines to look at. I would sit and read them or flip through them. I always had fun doing that. We would have big family get togethers at her house and she would cook for everyone.  It was great!  Then we started having the family get togethers at my parents house because it was bigger and  had more room for everyone.  I have a big family with lots of cousins and relatives.  She influences my life now, because when I get older and have grandkids, I want to be just like her.  She didn't meet a stranger and loved everyone. 

My Grandma Smith is my dads mom.  She has also passed away now, but when I was younger I loved going to spend time with her also.  She lived in a different area from my Grandma Hill.  My Grandma Smith lived where my dad and his brothers farmed  on the Mississippi River. She lived in the country. She would try to teach me things about canning. She also cooked really good and I learned alot from her about it.  My dad came from a big family also.  He had 3 brothers and 5 sisters.  We had awesome get togethers on July 4th when I was a kid.  All the family would get together and have massive barbecues and just hang out all day under my dads farm shop roof.  We would cook, eat, play, and have a good time.  I would get to see all my cousins that lived out of state.  They all would come visit for these big family get togethers. My Grandma Smith influences me because she was the cornerstone of  her family.  She kept everyone together and was a loving example for all of my family.

My sisters played a special role in my life.  I have 3 sisters.  My oldest sister, Lynn, died in 2008 in a car crash.  My other older sister, Tammy, lives in Utah with her family.  My youngest, sister, Lacy, lives at  home with my mom and dad.  As kids, we played and did stuff all the time.  Lynn and Tammy were older and drove us places like Nodena where my Grandma Smith lived.  We would go to the river and play on the sandbar (kind of like a beach area) or swim in the river.  My sisters and I loved to play in the fields and woods.  We would go on exploring trips and see what we could find. We would all fight like cats and dogs, but we all loved each other too. When we were young, we would sit up on Friday nights and watch scary shows.  We all loved scary shows.  Our mom would watch them with us sometimes too. We also loved to play with our cousins and hang out. We had cousins from out of state that would visit.  We would have a blast playing and talking and just being kids.  I still have a good relationship with  my sisters.  Although, we each have our own children and families, we still try to talk and keep up with each other.