I knew when I was in middle school that I wanted to be a Speech-Language Pathologist and I knew that I wanted to help people who had suffered from a stroke. Oddly enough, I didn’t even know of a single person who had a stroke. During my childhood, I was surrounded with many many adults who loved me and contributed to my growth. I adored them and cherished their stories about their past and the stories of my other family members. I learned about strokes in school and I was amazed that a single event could cause so much damage to a person and take away a fundamental element… communication. My thoughts and ideas about what to do with my life grew from there and I learned about speech pathology. Since then, I have met so many people throughout my professional life who will always remain dear to my heart. Not only people with aphasia, but the caregivers and other team members as well.