My favorite picture is about twenty-five years old, and preserved beneath the glass of an old delapidated frame. It has bore the same set of pictures since it was bought, though displayed on several walls during the years. The picture is of a small child, lying asleep in her grandmothers arms, who is also sleeping. The faded denim jumpsuit with golden hair flowing down the back suggests the time frame that the picture captured. It was the early eighties. The little girl, with a peaceful, content look upon her face is myself, and the grandmother is the woman that I believe to be my hero. My granny has been the most loving constant in my life, and remains so even today. She is someone that I always have, and always will continue to look up to.

Granny Tina was born March. 28, 1938, in the hills of Tennessee. She has two sisters (one younger, one older), and a recently deceased older brother, and sister. She moved to Ohio while in her early teens, and married quite young. By the time I was born into the picture, she had been divorced for some ten years from my grandfather, and had raised her four children without his assistance. To do this, she took whatever jobs were available to a woman in those days. She's been a waitress, and a cook, as well as a barmaid. Yet, she always holds a job. She is a proud woman, and her deep rooted values attached themselves onto to me sometime during my youngest years. I say that because I can't remember a time when I didn't think that Granny was always right, or morally rich.

She used to allow me to spend the night every weekend at her house. It was not a large fancy house, just a simple abode, filled with joy, love, warmth and fun. She taught me how to sew, she taught me how to wear makeup, and be a lady. She taught me manners, and skills that I would never have learned from anyone's hand but her own. I remember as a child we would sleep in the 'big bed' as we called it, and she would cuddle with me until I fell asleep. Never in my life have I ever felt more secure than in Granny's arms. She would tote me around town as if I were a special prize that noone in the world had but she. We would watch television together, and she would read me books. She would take me shopping at such establishments where one dollar could buy you an afternoon's worth of entertainment. This was where I got my first Bible. I will never forget the cover with the pink background decorated with 'Noah's Ark'.

The Library was our playground, as we

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