The most influential person in my life is Juan because he is my heart, my life, and my everything.

When I was 10 years old my parents told me that he was my stepfather. My mother, Maria, met him when I was two years old. They met at a dance and she told him she already had a daughter. At that moment he took me in as his own daughter.

I tell everyone that he is my father not my stepfather because it’s not who made you but who has raised you. Every struggle and obstacle I’ve gone through in my life he has been there. No matter what I did he supported me and encouraged me. We have our ups and downs almost every month but I’ll always love him.

My parents told me stories of how when was little I would follow him around everywhere. One time I was sitting next to him in his truck and he had one hand on the steering wheel and the other on his lap. My father told me he turned around to look at me and I was trying to sit exactly like him. That story always makes me laugh because I was so little.

It doesn’t matter who is your birth parents all that matters is who raised you.