My mother: the greatest inspiration in my life When asked who their hero is, most people answer with the name of an athlete or a actress/actor. When I'm asked who my hero is I should answer with a simple three letter word: mom. My mother has been the biggest inspiration in my life and is the main reason why I am where I am and who I am today. Born and raised in Richmond, Kentucky, I would like to introduce you to my mother, Vicki Grant. Currently, at age 47, Mom is the eldest of three girls. At age 36, Mom decided to go back to college to earn her nursing degree. It wasn't a difficult decision for her to make. The April before she enrolled in school, my great-grandmother died. This big dilemma played a big role in Mom's return to school. She had cared for my great-grandmother for months before she passed and decided she wanted to make an impact on the lives of geriatrics. While she was at school, it wasn't easy for her mother. Not only did she raise a daughter and care for a husband, but she faced numerous obstacles. These included things like my father having a heart attack and undergoing a triple by-pass, she having emergency surgery herself, which left her a semester behind, and her father also having a heart attack. Mom not only faced these setbacks, but also had to deal with the daily tasks of things like cooking dinner, cleaning the house, and raising a family. I don't know how she managed all of this, but somehow she did. In 1996, my mother graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a degree in nursing. Even though it took her five years, we were still proud of her and everything she had accomplished. Today my mother still works as an RN. Although she has just left her job at Berea Hospital, where she had been for 4 years, she is starting a new style of nursing.