Every year until I was 12, my mom would take my siblings and I to downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the annual walk- for- diabetes. It was a huge event that lasted the entire day. My mom baked cookies, she bought us red shirts with the walk-for-diabetes logo on it, and, personally my favorite accessory, she bought us giant, red, foam hands. I didn’t quite understand, or appreciate, that day, but looking back, it shaped me in so many ways. The walk consisted of hundreds of people walking around the streets of downtown, raising money and awareness for type 1 and type 2 diabetes. They had pop-up shops with merchandise, they had activities such as hula hooping and hop scotch, and my favorite part, they had baked goods. My mom was always in charge of the sugar-free cookies, which I also tried to steal the night before the walk every walk. Most of the time I was super excited for the walks, but sometimes it felt like a chore. I asked my mom one day, “why do we have to do this? I want to stay home and play with my barbies”. I was a kid, so I didn’t fully understand what we were doing. She said to me, “we are trying to help other people like mommy who are not as fortunate. This can be a harmful disease and the money we raise goes to helping scientists find a cure”. I think about that moment every time I feel annoyed doing something like community service. I’m so appreciative of my mother who always raised me to think about how my actions are helping someone who may truly need it. Not only has going up with a mother who has been affected by diabetes taught me to be an active member of society, it has also shown me just how fast a person's life can change. My mother was a very healthy runner and athlete growing up. She always took care of her body. But one day, everything changed for her. Me and my siblings would watch her prick her finger every couple hours just to make sure her blood sugar was at the correct level. We watched her give herself insulin shots every couple hours. And she had access to all of that. I think about kids my age, or older, who have diabetes and don’t even have access to insulin. It really puts life into perspective. Sometimes, we get going so fast that we take for granted the resources and opportunities we have. As I grow older, I realize more and more each day just how important it is to put yourself in other people's shoes and never take for granted the things that you have. Life can completely shift its course in an instant, and you never know what the future holds. So it's important to live in the now. It's important to keep helping those that need it and it's important to always stay humble. No matter how hard it gets, I always remind myself that someone has it harder. And that is what drives me every day to be the best version of myself. And I know I will have that quality for as long as I live.