I think at some point in our lives we've all heard the phrase, "Kids brains are like sponges". As a parent, I'm sure they take that into consideration, but don't really fully realize how much you are, unknowingly, shaping your child. Or at least that's how I would think about it, and I'm also 20, so what do I know?

It's funny how we pick up on the traits of our parents and we don't even realize it.

My dad is a worrier, for example. My whole life, he has been concerned about almost everything that I do, but then again I'm his only little girl, so I thought that was just normal. He also cleans a lot. And I mean a lot. Our kitchen probably gets cleaned 30 times a day, the living room vacuumed at least 5 times a week, and you could probably eat off of our garage floor.

My dad used to buy muscle cars and clean them up, add parts to them and ride me around town in them when I was little. This is also where I get my love for muscle cars from. It was always one of my favorite things to do when I was little. Even though he would crank the engine of his silver '68 Chevy Camaro SS in the garage and it would scare me and nearly deafen me, I secretly loved the way it sounded. I still to this day love the way cars sound. We used to go to car shows all the time. Just me mom and dad. Dad would drive his cars up on two ramps to get up under it, I would drive my Barbie Jeep up on the same ramps and shimmy under it just like dad with some tools in hand.

My mother, southern born and raised, is quite a fire-cracker. Growing up with 5 brothers and one sister, she can hold her own. Safe to say that she raised me like she grew up: tough, even though it was only me. Promising she brought me into this world and she could and would take me out of it just as easy if I kept actin' up in the grocery store. There were only few times that I got brave enough to stand up to her, but I learned quickly not to.

Now I know the answer to her question she always used to ask me, "Where did I get that attitude from?", I got it from you mom.

So as I grew up, I began hearing, "You're John Walker in a dress" or , "You just sounded just like your momma". I would always give the people who would say this funny looks. No I wasn't. I was me.

My mother works at Stratford Academy, the school I went to. Mrs. Hazel, a little woman who worked at Stratford (for many, many years) and spent most of her time in the pre-school building with mom. I was an intern for my mothers pre-K class my junior and senior year of high school, and I talked to Mrs. Hazel every day, almost always with mom. After we finished speaking one day, mom and I walked out of the kitchen in the pre-k building (where Mrs. Hazel was), side to side down the hallway, back to her classroom. Mrs. Hazel called down the hallway at us, laughing, "You know ya'll walk just the same". She would always laugh at us.

So college finally rolls around. I get my own dorm room and a year later my own apartment. I noticed every time a test would roll around, I would go in the kitchen or my bathroom and grab a Lysol wipe and clean everything. One day when I was scrubbing away, I froze. Oh my Lord, I'm becoming my father. So if you ever want to come to my apartment, ask me when my next test is and it will be extra clean.

As I started meeting friends, we went to this little festival in downtown Milledgeville. There happened to be three or four old Hot Rods parked for show. I flipped out when I saw them and ran over to look at them. Needless to say, none of my other friends did the same. So I just had to explain my dad has instilled that love of muscle cars into my brain.

There are probably a million of other little things that I do everyday, expressions I say, faces I make, cleaning sprees that I haven't mentioned (or that I haven't noticed). But all of this popped into my mind the other day when I was driving back to my apartment from spending the day in Macon with mom and dad. It just made me laugh a little realizing it all. It just makes me think how my future kids are going to turn out. God bless them.

I just know they are going to have kick-ass grandparents.