The greatest woman I ever knew always told me that education was important... and she was right. I was from a small town on the outskirts of St. Louis, Missouri before I was a teenager. At the time, education was plentiful in St. Ann, where I lived. I went to a decent primary school and got good grades, even though math wasn't my cup of tea. I have to thank my mother for this. That woman was my mother. She was a flight attendant for US Airways at the time, and despite being busy 24/7, she did her best to make time for both me and my education. From what I was told, my mother was the valedictorian of her high school class and had plenty of extracurricular activities to credit. Although I was an excellent student and had many friends, there was something else going on in my life at the time, which very few people in my circle knew about... My mother had been diagnosed with cervical cancer at the time, so when she got sick, I had to become her helper. Every day after school I had to do my homework and then take care of my sick mother by giving her medicine ...