In a Heartbeat Post 2

As I got deeper and deeper into the book, I discovered that both Leigh Anne and Sean were faced with childhood obstacles such as poverty and death. This came to me as somewhat of a shock because from what I had heard previously about the family, they were in fact very wealthy. Never the less, both Sean and Leigh Anne had to face their own hardships which is where they found how important giving truly was. Sean was raised in a loving family with four children who lived on the modest salary of a gym teacher. Most of Sean's inspiration and love came from his dad, but when Ed Touhy had a stroke the family was left with less than they had ever had before. Sean received a lot of support from his community and that help combined with the strong value of giving his dad had filled him with made for a very ready-to-give man. Leigh Anne was also raised far from rich with an ex-war veteran father who worked in the police force and a mother who worked hard to uphold an interior design business. There was no room for fancy cars and ultra fine clothing when her parents were determined to put two kids through private school as well as making sure Leigh Anne had the ability to attend college. Leigh Anne also was exposed to giving at an early age because her mother firmly put a value on helping others. One of Leigh Anne's close friends, Liz Marable even at one point found herself living with Leigh Anne's family because of her mother's love of helping others. Finding out both of these backgrounds actually made me more understanding of the Touhy's emphasis and love for giving to those around them. As Leigh Anne says, "God gives you money because he wants to see how you handle it". Yes, the family has a private plane and sure they could probably fund an entire school, but I doubt that they would ever have a problem just as easily giving those things up in order to help out someone in a more difficult position. They have instilled these giving values into their children as well; S.J., Collins, and Michael are expected to give to those around them and have now discovered their own love for helping those around them. Leigh Anne and Sean's backgrounds also helps explain the constant array of children coming and going at their house and their immediate love and care for Michael Oher. Michael hit a soft spot with both Sean and Leigh Anne, so their acts of kindness towards him were simple gestures at first, but soon grew to the love and respect they now have as a family.