*Given that tomorrow, January 7, 2023, is the 8th anniversary of caucus99percent, and we are 8 wondrous years of being together to say what is on our minds and in our hearts, we should stand, slow clap, give each other cyber hugs and salutes, and do remember that we are the 99%, because JtC says we are the people he wants to reach out to, and gives us this great place to express ourselves.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
JtC would appreciate your feedback on the anniversary, and what it means to you.*

Each of us who has associated with family has been particularly influenced by one of them, or even more than one.
My biggest influence was my Dad, but time constraints won't allow me to delve into that relationship. To do that remarkable man justice, it will take time to hit even the highlights.
So, Mom. A woman with a life of incredible achievements!

She, too, was influenced by family, especially the name. Seems her Dad had a college degree in Agriculture, was a professor at a Louisiana University, then worked for the the government, shifted to the oil patch, and because he had social status, he had some smallish money. He fathered 5 kids, the usual, and of all of them, Mom was the one with a birth defect. She lacked a pelvic bone and hip bone.
So, she went to Texas Children's Hospital. Lived there for a year or so. They did hideous things, such as putting her leg in some device, stretching it, to match the length of the normal leg. Anybody seen movies where people were drawn and quartered?
When she had gotten enough of the torture, she rolled herself out of the hospital, down the street, belly down on a gurney. Cops got her. Her parents got her home shortly afterwards.
She did get some strange surgery where a china plate was placed in her where a hip bone would be. One leg was 4 inches shorter than the other, and it had no muscle function to lift or step forward or backward. It was for a prop. It sort of swung along. No crutches needed, thank you very much.
After missing 2 years of school, she graduated high school at age 15. (She was gorgeous, said one of the most embarrassing moments of her life
was when her class was getting measured for their gowns. With "4'10" height, 18" waist, and 48" chest. The measuring guy announced that aloud.)
So, she went to Jr. College. She got her 2 year associate degree in 6 months. Next, she went to a renown business college in Houston. She finished that 2 year program in 6 weeks. It made the news in the business section of the local Houston newspapers.
Due to Grandpa being a supervisor in the oil fields of Baytown, Texas, and being the mentor of one of FDR's nephews, it was easy to get Mom considered for a job at Exxon. In short order, she worked her way up to the secretary for the chief executive in Baytown. And then, WWII.
Each day, an oil company limo would come and get her, drive her to the port. She would take pencil and paper, calculate how many barrels of oil could be loaded on ships headed to war. Nobody was around to check her math. I can't even imagine that happening then or now.
The war ended, and Mom was recruited to be an interpreter at the UN. She interpreted Spanish. She was fluent.
The stroll on the river walk, downtown San Antonio, mariachi bands, cold beer, handsome soldier, changed her mind about leaving Texas, and that was, of course, Dad. He milked cows right along side her, iirc.
She wound up being the high society woman who could wring a chicken's neck, get that bird on the dinner table, with all silverware properly placed. Yeah, she could milk a cow. And, she could write campaign speeches for state wide politicians, as long as they were FDR Democrats. She liked Benny Goodman, didn't like Hank Williams, but with my Dad, danced to both.
Yeah, she could prepare income taxes, go to audits, have the IRS auditors apologizing. Yeah, she could feed her family, but every neighbor in need, as well.
I remember that event well. The black woman maid across the street would occasionally come over to borrow milk or sugar for her boss. Mom stopped her from going to the back door, right off the bat. But it was Mom's training to serve coffee and a piece of pie to all visitors. The black woman was panicked, had never sat at a white person's table, eaten off a white person's plate.
I was there. Mom served her as an honored guest in our home. From then on.
Mom and I attended the black woman's funeral many years later. Jessie May. Her daughter talked to us about that event, and what her Mom had felt.
Mom's influence on me is without measure. I love, I defend, I respect, I give, I inquire, I draw a line in the sand, I do what I must do.
Because that's what my Mom would do.
So, does anyone have a family influencer besides me? If so, please drop in a story.
Better yet, say whatever is on your mind this morning.
Maybe what influenced you was the family of man.