I decided to highlight several people who have made a big impact over the course of my adult life. Of course it is almost impossible to recreate the thousands of people in my sphere of influence who have changed my life and most of them for the better. Rather than trying to write well into my 50's about people who have made an impact (or maybe beyond) I instead thought "you know what I will make this my late Summer/early Fall series every year" so I am. Every year I will do a 6-part series with 6 different people who have made a positive impact in my adult life. I will explain how I met them, how they made an impact, and what I have done to make an impact in their life. Here is my first one of my first 6 highlighting one of the most delightful married couples I have ever met.
Phyllis and Steve Sanderson met me before I was born. My Mom was initially a member of the church I go to now at that point and they started going years prior. They have been married for over 50 years and are soulmates- they married shortly after high school was over. In the span of time that they have known me they have become like mother and father figure's in my life. They have helped me since I was 3 with Steve always saving me from the pool I remember this only because my Mom told me the story approximately 5,978 times and every time I laugh. In the decades since they have helped with numerous projects that I was involved with for church and in their yard they have continued to be church pew buddies for years I have met their whole family and I have continued to see a vital sense of humor in everything they do. Whether it is the fact that I give Phyllis a tin of snack mix every year and it is always gone in day 1 mostly by her or whether it is the fact that they are a couple of the most loving people in the church's family and give more people hugs than I do or that they made me a quesedilla recipe for my high school graduation letters they have always supported me and have supported me greatly not only financially but also with finding my current apartment and with finding my way through college telling me numerous times to never quit and constantly encouraging me to find ways to work on my safety and to get away from the various stressful living situations I was in. In return with the years at their pool with the many times giving them a hard time or giving them solid stories of what has gone on in my life with all the laughter and all the love and all the kind moments with their family that I have shown them and with all of their own wisdom that I have learned and the lessons I have continued to learn from my mistakes when I was a youth and show them that I am passionate about getting better I would like to think that through 35 years of life we have both shown each other forgiveness and compassion and kindness and generosity and I have continued to make their Sunday experience what it was to be better. One last story then I will write the conclusion: when I was at Family Camp in 2006 I wrote a nickname my BUS driver gave me on my name tag and my friend at the time wrote a country singer's name on his nametag. Steve in his punny sense of humor saw it and said "Ian is going Iancognito this weekend" which means that 12 years of Ian puns that are said almost every day either online or in person was started by Steve Sanderson.
In conclusion, they have continued to be great mother and father figures but also unyielding amounts of kindness, compassion, love, and integrity. Phyllis's animus in cartoons is probably hard to find (or storybooks for that matter) but Steve's is clearly Winnie-The-Pooh because he is kind, loving, huggable, larger than life, and harmless. I have been blessed to know them for as long as I have as they have been literally life-long friends and I am beyond grateful to have that great familial bond.
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