The person that inspired me is my great-grandmother, Martha McCrackett Denson. She gave me stories to share. I was born with a cleft palate. I did not talk a lot, I did not smile a lot, and I would not be around others. I would only sit and listen to the stories about her life. In her home, she didn’t have lots of chairs for sitting, so I would sit on the floor and listen to the soft, monotone sound of her voice telling me those stories. It was just the two of us when all the other children were outside running around playing. You would find me sitting at her feet with my legs crossed, like I was at a campfire, with my head cupped in my hands. When I would get tired of that position, I would lay flat on my stomach, still listening to that monotone voice telling me stories about her life, with my legs in the air, crossed at my ankle. I would also think about the times in which she would be at church, singing the same way she talked, in that monotone voice, and singing those common meter hymns.