CHILDREN

I grew up being taught that children were a blessing. I have never "disliked" children . . . but honestly, I never loved being around children. Sticking with my own age group was what I felt most comfortable with.

Maybe it was because I thought that friends had to be my own age. Funny. The relationships that are most precious to me now are the friendships that I have with people who are significantly younger and older than me.

In the last year, I have developed this "out of the ordinary" love for being with children and making them my closest friends. I have to be honest though. At first I just did it because of various awkward social situations. I had to be at certain events. Life made things complicated. I feared what people were thinking (pride, I know!) I knew that I could just go talk to the kiddos and "be safe."

But to have an eight year old girl hug me after her piano lesson . . . or to have a parent tell me that her daughter was crying because she was sick and could not attend her lesson - it's one of the greatest feelings in the world.

So tonight at my company's BBQ I made another friend and (ah-ha!) I took her home with me for the evening. I love these children and . . .

Yes, I want a whole ton of my own someday. :-D