Personal Childhood Web

 My parents are a unit. They both have played such a vital role in my upbringing and ultimately my education. Having met, married, and reproduced at such a young age, they value the meaning of hard work and knowing what it takes to simply survive. I grew up knowing how education was my ticket to something greater and to never go for "average". Every assignment, summer reading, extracurricular activity, and beyond, was to be performed above average, but in a way that I still enjoyed doing it. I never once questioned my path to college nor my future beyond. Every opportunity and chance I was given, I made my own choices, but I knew I had their support no matter what. My father fostered my love of reading and writing from an early age, beginning with my first writing assignment in Kindergarten in which we had to create an alternate ending to a book we had read. We spent an entire weekend creating different outlines and illustrations before we finally settled on one to create for class. This became a weekly occurrence for most of my Elementary years and beyond. With his help and creative mind, I began a love of writing and creating stories to share with others. I credit him with my creative mind and my imagination for the impossible. 

My mother balanced me out with her logical mind and ability to take things step by step, or the reminder to at least read the instructions. Countless nights were spent with (both of us) crying over math homework, chemistry equations, and ultimately the dings these classes left in my GPA. Through those nights, however, I learned how important it was to balance my mind with the creative and the logical. It made focusing on tasks and ideas easier to manage and my mother helped clear my path to college and now graduate school. As she is now a teacher, I always know I can come to her with whatever problem I may have. And while she is the more logical of the two of us, I can always count on her to remind me to have some fun. Both of my parents are such strong individuals in my life and are incredibly important to me as an individual. 

 While it does not look like it from the picture, being the older sibling has influenced my life in more ways to count. My brother and sister have been my best friends since 1996 and 1998. While both my parents were either in school or working, I grew up quickly, learning how to take care of two young kids when I, myself, was only a child. There are countless memories of when we played 'school' and I would act as the teacher, reading to them, coloring with them, and creating lessons to teach them their ABCs, months of the year, and days of the week. I believe a huge aspect of my personality comes from being a big sister and my leadership skills developed from an early age. Even in school, I made a name for the Rethman kids and while they might have hated it at the time when they were known simply as "Emily's brother" or
"Emily's sister", I like to believe that their drive and determination in school developed from striving to live up to that name. All three of us have been through a lot more than your average siblings, and the relationship I have with each of them is indescribable. I will always be there for them and if our group text that has been going on since my sister got her first phone is any indication, they will always have my back as well. 

While he was not part of my childhood necessarily, my husband has played a HUGE part in my educational journey. We met the summer before my junior year of college and he played a vital part in me completing my undergraduate career a semester early while I also worked full time. He has been my shoulder to cry on, my personal chef, my paper checker, and the one to remind myself to take a break every now and then. He has also been an amazing dad to our two dogs and was the one to explain to them why mommy couldn't go with them to the dog park because of homework. My personal journey into the role I am in now would be next to impossible, if at all feasible, if not for him. Also, an honorable mention to my two fur-babies who spent many a night (right now in fact) sitting on my lap under my computer, or on my feet, supporting me through everything in their silent ways. I have been blessed beyond measure and will make it a point to remind each of these individuals how much they mean to me more often.