Thanks, Mom and Dad.

I don't know about the rest of you, but my parents have done and continue to do a lot for me, even if I am already 22 years old.

I'll let you all in on a little secret...my parents weren't always there.

When I was three, I moved with my grandparents to New Mexico and they raised me. When I was 8, they adopted me.

Now I'm not saying that I never had my mom, but she wasn't the person I was dependent on when I was younger. .

I grew up with my grandparents. I have never met my dad, or at least I haven't seen him since I was fresh out of the womb.

When I was in 7th grade, my mom began dating the man who I actually call my dad. Since then, I've formed a relatively close relationship to both my mom and my (step)dad. I graduated from high school in 2010 and guess who was able to come back from deployment for two weeks to see me graduate? It was my dad!

When my mom and dad got married, I gained 2 younger sisters and a younger brother.  I was relieved...I was no longer the center of my parents attention and trust me, that was nice.

Flash forward to 2014. I'm a senior graduating in less than two months. I've been in my chapter for two and a half, almost three years. I've served two full terms on executive board and half of a term on executive council.

Do you think that this would have been possible without my parents? Probably not.

Even with three younger siblings, my parents have always taken good care of me and, at times, they've definitely spoiled me. My parents pay my sorority dues, which as most of you know, aren't cheap at all. Whenever I need something, I know that I can call my parents and they'll do whatever they can to help me.

There's always been a stigma that sorority girls are daddy's girls. This isn't the case, at least not for me. When there's an absolute necessity, my parents will take care of it. My parents take care of my dues and at times, they'll take care of my tuition.

When I have something that I don't need, but want, they make me work for it. They know how busy I am. I'm taking 13 credit hours, I have a 4 credit hour internship, which causes me to be in the office 4 days a week, I'm on my chapters executive board, and I still have to find time to do homework and spend time with my friends and sisters outside of events so I don't completely lose my sanity. There are even times that my parents and grandparents have to call and check up on me.

Even with how busy I am, I do my best to drive to my parents house (which is only 45 minutes away from where I go to school) at least once a week. My mom is one of my best friends but it wasn't always that way.

My parents (along with my grandparents) are my rocks. I know I can rely on them for anything. With graduation quickly approaching, they're taking care of everything for a graduation party for me so I can see my family from all over the country.

I have always been family oriented but that won't ever change. I know that I'm who I am today, not only because of my sisters that I've spent the past two and a half years with, but because my family helped to shape me.