My Most Influential Person

My dad, Joseph Nischbach, is probably the most influential person in my life. He is fourty-six years old and stands tall with blonde hair and blue eyes. People say that I look exactly like my dad and I am a "true Nischbach". Besides looks, we also act exactly the same; he is a neat freak, very responsible, organized, smart, funny, hardworking, and also loving. My dad has taught me almost everything that I know. He teaches me the little things in life like how to deposit a check and how to pump my gas. Whenever I am confused on how to do something, he is the first person that I call. He usually laughs and jokingly says, "Oh Nicole, what are you going to do without me when you go off to college?!" Now that I am in college, it is nice to have the freedom away from my parents, but I do miss seeing them everyday. Back at home, my dad always nagged me to clean my room and help out around the house. If I didn't do these chores, I would get in a lot of trouble, so I'd have to say one of his weaknesses is that he can be too strict. I would always tell him to not sweat the small stuff, and he has gotten a lot better with that. My dad has many goals in his life that area apparent to me; he wants to teach me and my sisters everything that they need to do to succeed in life and make smart decisions. He also takes his job very seriously so that he can always support his family and make us happy.

Now that I am older, my dad teaches me how to be a smart woman in todays world, but one memory that sticks out in my head is when my dad taught me how to waterski when I was seven years old. This is probably one of the first things that he ever taught me how to do. We were on a family vacation in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, and my entire dad's side of the family was out on the boat enjoying the nice hot weather. We had seventeen people on the boat, so at times, the younger kids including myself, would get hot, tired, and crabby. Everyone in my family learns how to waterski at a young age so I remember thinking about how excited I was to finally be like the older kids in my family. My dad is an excellent waterskiier so I always admired how he was able to go swiftly in and out of the wake. It was finally my turn; as I was floating in the water, my dad jumped in with the skiis and began speaking to me. He explained that it was going to feel awkward, but I needed to act like I was sitting in a chair. I WILL FINISH LATER.