The most influential person in my life is no other than my grandmother, "Kemin", who had the most wonderful and kind-hearted personality I've ever known in my life. Of course, I've wonderful relatives, friends and loved-ones like my husband, but nobody compares to my grandmother, who made great impact on my personality during those seventeen, tender years of growing up in her custody.

My grandmother's real name is Imelda Agsicio Pulacan, a typical Filipina, popularly known as "Kemin" in our village, someplace around Baguio City, Philippines. I could say she's a wonderful person because of her unconditional love, generosity, perseverance, determination and humble positive outlook in life. With her mediocre education and knowledge, she persevered in bringing up me and my kid sister. When I was three years old, my parents separated and left us to my Grandma's care and sought their own way of life.

Grandma Kemin treated me and my kid sister like her very own flesh and blood, with so much devotion. With her immense determination to provide us a good life, she worked hard almost everyday notwithstanding all the difficulties and hardship of life. She'd seize every opportunity in any work, just to provide food and shelter for the family of four that comprises her and grandpa Felix (a retired veteran), my sister and I. She was the breadwinner, while grandpa, my sister and I help each other in the house chores. Grandma's one of a kind, who wants to give everything for the people she dearly loves. She'd been a devoted, selfless person. I'll always remember those times when she wanted to buy something for herself but ended up buying a better quality of shoes and clothes for my sister and me. I knew she'd willingly gave her own food for us is we needed more. She accommodated us the best she could physically, morally and emotionally. She provided for me and my kid sister's education until we finished high school. Actually she wanted to give us a higher education but her age and health caught up with her.

Whenever Grandma had time, she'd always devoted for us to teach us good moral character, before tucking us into bed. Besides the Golden Rule: "Do not do unto others what you won't like others do unto you", she'd embedded in our minds, she's the first person who taught us to pray the Lord's Prayer in our own dialect. The most repeated advice she'd gave us is: "To always take good care of each other no matter what life brings", and to study hard because good education was the only gift and treasure she could leave behind, which nobody can steal from us. There are also lots of good and inspiring experiences my grandma Kemin shared to me. Every weekend and holiday, I'd always accompany and help her in either going to the mines for gold panning or vending wooden, or stone key chains and ashtrays that my grandfather and I did at home, at the city parks and sidewalks. She'd always tell me to be proud no matter how hard or what kind of job I do, for as long as it's decent and I work hard for it, the fruit of labor is gratifying.

Without that unconditional love and gracious support grandma gave me and my sister, we wouldn't be what we are today. We may never had the comfort of materialistic life other people have, but the wisdom, good foundation of life and principles taught to us would be efficient enough as a tool while I'm growing older. I may not be the best person she wanted me to be, but I'm pretty sure she'd be very proud of what  I've accomplished for now. I think she was the best gift God had ever given to us and I would always cherish those memories and times I had with my grandmother whom I adore as a mother, best friend and mentor for the rest of my life.

RVG