- put me into schools that were outside of my neighborhood. basically just exposing me to folks things/people that were diff than my immediate area.

- she was a straight shooter, so watching her gave me that superpower of not being afraid to speak my mind. her style is a lot more brash. I tend to finesse my words a bit differently and still make my point.

- exposed me to a lot of my family. I'm an only child, but my mom is popular in the fam because of her brash, but funny nature.

things I wished were better...

- more emphasis on expanding my view. hers was pretty limited. in turn, I didn't think much about widening my worldview til well into adulthood. she's from a small spot in Alabama. Coming to Atlanta, pretty much on her own with a baby, was likely her own version of growing.

- no teachings of financial literacy. I had a car before she did. she was never really keen on how to handle money/credit. again, learned myself as an adult. never talked about scholarships or paying for school. making sure to teach my kids while they're kids.

- the previous two points also speak to this issue. she was never really able to make any real money. she got menial jobs that kept the lights on....most times. she was never on a career track or able to move from being an hourly, blue collar type employee.

- never pushed me to try sports. I was generally in out of district schools, so there may have been logistic issues involved since we had no car. or maybe she just couldn't afford it.