As we move through life we learn different things from different people, many of which are formative. From my father, I learned the value of a good work ethic and doing what you say you'll do, as well as a deep respect of nature and the outdoors. When we were younger, he took us on many camping trips. He worked for the same large agricultural cooperative his entire career, and was eventually appointed president. He was also the president of the California chapter of the Sierra Club for a year or so. From my mother, I learned to be compassionate and treat everyone the way you would want yourself to be treated. My mother was very involved in the early stages of the National Organization of Women (NOW) in the 1960s, and Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" was on regular rotation at our house. The other gift I was given by my mother was a lifelong love of music. My dad had played drums when he was young, and bought me a Snoopy drum set when I was six, but he was not seriously interested in music by then. He used to frequently travel to Japan for work, and in the early 1960s he brought back a Yamaha acoustic guitar for my mom. I have fond memories of family gatherings led by my mom playing that guitar (which I still have), singing folk songs with family and friends in our living room. We had a box of handheld percussion for the kids, and I'm sure my mom found it a challenge to stay in time with the off-beat racket us kids made.
Later, as a teenager, I was bitten by the pop and rock music bug, which has never left me. In high school I was a rocker, and some of the first guitar riffs I learned to play were from Ted Nugent and Aerosmith, but as I got older I realized the melodic side of music, that I learned at a young age from my mother, was what really spoke to me. In the end, I listened to The Beatles more than the Rolling Stones.