This week’s blog challenge prompt is “Write about someone who inspires you and why”.

Well.

Have you ever thought about how the people who inspire you change over your lifetime? I can tell you right now that the people I looked up to at age 3 are quite different at age 55.

I tend to focus on my immediate surroundings, so it’s no surprise that many of my inspirations were family members and close friends and people I know personally.

My family tree is chock-full of inspirational people, so I have it pretty easy there. Some of them are downright notorious, and some of them are crazy talented; some of those people overlap. OK, all of them overlap.

When I took my ACT in high school, the writing portion was not optional. My topic was “write about someone who is your hero”. I wrote pages and pages about my brother being my hero due to all that he had endured in life up to that point. Then I went home and didn’t breathe a word of it to him for decades, because he and I constantly locked horns back when he was 17 and I was 18. But he was still a cool dude back then, and he was an even cooler dude when he left this world–I’m glad we no longer fought in adulthood like we had as children.

My granny and I started out rocky. She had lost her 2 sons and medicated with a lot of alcohol. She made no bones about favoring her grandsons over her only granddaughter for my entire childhood. It cut to the core. But eventually she kicked the bottle and then we got along great. She was amazingly talented when it came to having a green thumb and being crafty–ceramics, needle arts, you name it. We had a great time until she suddenly passed away when I was 27.

My parents were/are very awesome. They always let us kids be ourselves and supported whatever hobbies we enjoyed. They didn’t get wound up over minor stuff like hair length and hair color and clothing choices. They made sure we knew the rules and were respectable members of society, but they also let us have our freedom. I was weird and never did go through that rebellious phase of hating my parents and thinking they were idiots–I thought my parents were great people.

I have a lot of inspirational friends, too. They have all been through so much in their lives and they keep coming back fighting every time the world thinks they are down for the count. They are a tenacious bunch, and I admire that.

So yeah–I can’t really narrow down one single inspirational person in my life. So many people have shaped me into the person I am today. I think they share a lot of characteristics, too.

They value honesty. Sure, some of them are a tad delusional or can really spin a story, but when it comes down to it, there’s no patience for outright liars.

They are creative and talented. Some paint, some read, and some can build machinery that runs like a dream. Some can lead others, and some jump in and help teams achieve great things. Some can bake, some can decorate, and some can coax music out of instruments. They are visionaries who bring imagination to life.

And they care. Deeply. They will fight for what they believe in to the bitter end. They certainly do not all agree, but at the end of the day they will do what they can to make the world a better place for those they love.

I’m glad I know such beautiful people.