Who has influenced your life the most

My Daddy, The Greatest Man I ever met !

....Tc....

My mama, she had me at 16 and half and we grew up together. She went thru so much, including an attempt on her life and still keep us together.

She is 82 now and in great condition. Goes to exercise class twice a week and is the greatest woman on this earth.

My father and Dale Earnhardt. May they rest in peace

My father, he was my father and my best friend., the greatest man i ever knew

My father who is ill with cancer, but still keeps such a positive outlook on life. I was very sick as a child with kidney issues, but he was the one by my bedside in the hospital. He was the one who took me fishing to take me to a happier place rather than hospitals. He was the one who coached my softball team every year. He was the one by my side for a year after I was involved in a major car accident at the age of 15 in which I broke 14 bones. He was the one with me each and every time in physical therapy.

My husband as well. He is the most amazing man other than my father. He simply accepts me for who I am and doesn't expect me to be someone I am not. He stands behind me 100% no matter what.

My grandmother's best friend lived down the street from her while I was growing up. Her son, Hank, had cerebral palsy. Anyone here from the southern states may know his name if someone you love is afflicted with this disease, as Hank Holland was the first person to do the 20 mile walk as a fund raiser.

Through all his fights through to continue to do what he wanted, he showed me what true strength was, but the strongest impact Hank had on my life was when I was 7 years old, too young to fully realize what the fight he had was.

I was trying to learn to ride without training wheels, and was scared to death. For three months, the fear overtook me. One day, Hank and I were talking, and he told me, "Fear will always be with anything worth doing. The only thing we can do is to work through it and be stronger than the fear. Our mind is stronger than the body we have, and the fear that grips it. Don't worry about your body, put your mind to something, and you can do it."

Everything that I have ever done boils back down to that five minutes on an August afternoon in Louisiana.

Correction to the above, there is a typo in the first part. Hank HAS cerebral palsy, not had. And I am very thankful for that as well.

well it sure wasn't my parents .....by todays standards they both would be sitting in jail for abuse (verbal & physical ).................so I have to say my older brother was & still is a great influence for me all these yrs

Kansasgirl I'm right there with ya! But my influential role model was my grandfather. He saved me from myself. Taught me how to speak my mind no matter what the circumstances, and never take shyt from anyone. Always be the best you can be and always help a friend in need. I try to live by what he taught me and hope that one day I will be as strong as he was.

I would have to say my wife, Carol. She is solid as a rock, and has gone through a lot with and all the surgeries I’ve had.

The biggest influence in my life is my Mom........she's my rock!

The biggest influences would be mum, brad and most definitely the friends I have made on here

These are great feelings you share about your mother and father in law. Although my ex and I do not communicate and our divorce almost 25 years ago was less than amiable, I can and will always say to anyone who will listen that I could have never chosen a better mother for my 3 wonderful and grown children and my two beautiful grand daughters.

I attribute a lot of her success as a mother to my ex-mother in law who died just this year. This was perhaps the finest person I ever met in my life bar none and she had a mothers instinct and wisdom that is unmatched anywhere. Even though my ex and I had a rocky breakup, her mother kept the fact that i was still the father of her grandkids in mind and always (sometimes without others knowing) kept me in the loop. She said, and i believe her, that she prayed for me every day. I know she understood that a breakup has two sides to it and although she had to support her blood, she always took the time after many years to keep up with me and sincerely wish me well.

My ex's father was a hard working self made man, difficult at times but in the long run fair. Those two are the model of what grandparents and parents should be and i, like you, miss them.