Introduction
When thinking about the events and people that have influenced my life the most, two people and one event come to my mind. The two people being the parents I was born to and the event being meeting my wonderful fiancé. I know these both sound very cliché, but I will prove it to you.
My Parents - Church
Just as Nephi said, I was born of goodly parents, Nicholas and Susan Seivert, on July 12, 1989. I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father and mother, and have seen many afflictions in the course of my days. My dad was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 1980’s and my mom is to this day a very strong, practicing Catholic woman. As you can imagine this difference in religions made my life very interesting growing up and very hard at times. My mom has always been very supportive of my brother, my dad and myself as we go to church and practice our faith. However, it’s the little things that can really affect a person. While everybody else was being embarrassed by their mom being in the Young Women’s presidency or having their mom go to the temple with them, I had to be careful about how much I talked about the church with my mom because it was a more sensitive topic in our household. We didn’t have Family Home Evenings or scripture study together or knell down at night, not because my mom objected but just because we didn’t want to force the Church on her. As you can imagine, this made me very determined to get married in the temple and have those things in my home for my children.
My Parents – Life Experiences
My dad has had many physical trials during his lifetime. He has been legally blind since birth and has had epilepsy for twenty-two years. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the state has to give certain locations for vending machines to the Blind Enterprise Program, which my dad belongs to being legally blind. These places include such places as prisons, government buildings, a center for mentally handicapped people, etc. When I would have off of school for the summer or for holidays, I got to go to work with my parents or I would go to their business meetings. As a result, I have been around blind people, mentally handicapped people and prisoners. I learned to treat these people like anybody else. They are still people no matter their circumstances, which is maybe why being a social worker isn’t quite as scary for me. I grew around people who were different than the “norm.”
Epilepsy is something that can really turn your life upside very fast. My dad has what are called complex partial seizures. He basically just stops and stares for 30 seconds to 2 minutes. When he “comes out of it,” he will be disorientated. This may sound really small but it can be very frustrating because he doesn’t realize it has happened and not being in control of your body is a scary thought. Having epilepsy is something that he has really struggled with and I would be lying if I said, he never complained. But at the end of the day, he realizes that this is just his burden to bear and it has really strengthened his testimony. This has really helped me as well to just face my issues and grow from them.
These are both examples of social learning in behaviorism. I learned from watching my parents and their interactions that it wasn’t scary to be with people with disabilities. They weren’t scared of these people and they treated them normally. I also learned that challenges make a person, not break a person.
Meeting Chris
I know it seems really cliché and mushy to say that meeting my fiancé was so life influencing for me but it really has. We have been dating on and off for over two years now. Some people might say it’s just that I have done a lot of growing because of the time frame but I really believe it is because of him. He has been a lot of firsts for me and helped me to grow in many ways.
We met online and started emailing and texting. Eventually, Chris wanted to meet in person, which was something that I was very hesitant about because you never know with people online. But long story short, I finally gave in and met him. A short time after we started dating he came clean and told me that he had made some mistakes earlier in life. [Edited for Chris' privacy] This was a really big deal. We had probably only been together a month or two at this point. But I knew he was a good man and I was willing to live with the consequences of his past decisions. This was the first growth I had since I met him, accepting people’s flaws and not judging for things that happened before I even met them.
Over the course of those first few months, we fell in love and decided we wanted to get married. Chris popped the question and we were planning a civil wedding. He had taken a couple missionary discussions but he wasn’t serious about the church. A month into the wedding planning, I stopped to think about what I was doing. I was getting married outside of the temple and this was not what I wanted at all. I broke it off. Like I said earlier, it is really important to me to have the gospel in my home and have a strong priesthood holder. This was the second growth I had in this relationship, making the best decision for my future children and for me.
Eventually Chris decided for himself that he wanted to learn more about the Church. I supported him every step of the way and answered all his questions. I was out here at school and not able to go to the missionary discussions with him. But I am happy to say that the weekend that I flew home for my brother’s high school graduation was also the weekend that this sweet man god baptized all because of I opened my mouth and told him about the Church.
Conclusion
My mom, my dad, and my fiancé have made me who I am today. My parents guided me, taught me, supported me through the first eighteen and a half years of my life and Chris has been carrying me and molding me ever since.
