During my whole childhood, my weekends included hanging out with my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bill. My parents divorced when I was two years old. Both being at a young age, they always needed a babysitter. One day my dad got my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bill to babysit, and ever since then, those two wonderful people have been a huge part of my life.

Every Friday they would pick me up from my daycare, or school, or wherever I was and most of the time, we didn’t go straight home. Our Fridays usually consisted of a trip to Sams Club, JC Penny’s, or sometimes both. If we went to Sams Club, I knew what our mission was, food. And if we went to JC Penny’s, I knew I was about to get new clothes. Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bill never failed to spoil me rotten. And I never failed to take advantage of it. I’d asked for so much stuff that Aunt Debbie finally told me that “she couldn’t get it because she was on a budget”. And boy did that backfire. If I saw something I wanted, I would ask her what her budget was and if the item was over her limit. And I didn’t care who was around. This would usually result to Aunt Debbie hiding her face in embarrassment. Another thing I liked to do when we went shopping, was hide between the clothes rack until I heard my name come on over the intercom because my aunt couldn’t find me.

After our adventurous and entertaining shopping trips, we would go home and the first thing I would do was walk to the living room and turn on Sponge Bob, Power-Puff Girls, or What Not to Wear on TLC. Then knowing that my aunt was cooking, I would go to the pantry cabinet and go through the junk food until I found the right snack. Dinner was always the same; frozen salmon. Mashed potatoes, and “corn off the cobb”. And I always ate it off my favorite Power-Puff Girl plate. That is... until I got too old for it and ate off my new monkey plate. After dinner I would either play with my Barbies, my baby dolls, or I would go into my aunt and uncle’s big fancy office and play “lawyer/Architect”. Followed by my Uncle Bill painting my toes then a traditional midnight snack which was a tie dyed plate filled with raw celery, broccoli. Carrots, ranch, and little cheese slices stacked up in a tower.

Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bill were always there for me when I needed them. Growing up with a tough family situation and too young to understand, they never failed to provide for me, protect me, and listen to me when I needed to vent. Their home was my happy place and they were my second parents. They have taught me great life lessons like; what a budget is, or that the sample food stands at Sams are only open on Sundays. But most importantly, they taught me how to genially care for someone and how to put someone else’s need above my own. They were a huge impact on my life and without them I would not be the person I am today.