Describing My Kids

How do I describe my kids? That is the question I was recently asked by someone I reconnected with on Facebook. The fact is they are all good kids. And that is amazing considering they had me raising them. I am not exactly the sanest person in the world. Anyone who knows me can contest to that.

They all have killer senses of humor as I stated in an earlier post. They are very passionate about their family. That holds true more so with the three of them. Do not cross one of them, you will have the other two to protect their back. And they would do it very ferociously. So the person they focus on should be prepared. It is a force to be reckoned with. Above all else, they care about people in general. Those that are considered “different” from the norm are the ones they never want to see hurt. They will defend them just as fiercely as each other. They will always pull for the underdog. They are unique and wonderfully loving kids I would never want to be without. Because they are still living (and I hope they will be past my time), I will leave the rest of their personalities to them. I know they would understand that.

This conversation came up because I was asked about Amanda. She was a singularly unique human being. There is never a perfect one either. She wasn’t perfect, but she was about as close as anyone could be. Human beings have emotions ranging from anger to apathy or hate. She had all but one. She never hated anyone. In fact, she accepted everyone no matter what they looked like, talked like or what social class they were in. She always had a smile for anyone who looked at her. If someone else was down, they got a hug from her because she genuinely wanted to make them feel better.

She also had a temper. Everyone lucky enough to know her knew that. None of us were immune to it either. If she was able, she “stomped off”. That meant hitting her hand on the floor as hard as she could as she scooted out of the room. Of course, the whole time she was yelling, “Non! Non!” That meant no basically. The best part of it was not how funny it was but that she would be your best friend again in less than five minutes. She NEVER held a grudge. I have never met another person who could say that.
Some may say all the damage from the brain tumor gave her memory glitches but she didn’t forget things. She remembered everyone she met so I would have to disagree on that.

Amanda would have had every right to look at life very negatively. She had been poked, prodded, operated on, and endured many hours and days in the hospital throughout her life. She was only 16 when she left us. The remarkable thing about her was the capacity she had to love and accept others unconditionally. She did not allow all the negativity to change that. I believe those lucky enough to have known her would agree she was as close to perfect as a human being could be. Her smile would make the world a wonderful place and fixed every woe we had. Oh to have that smile shine on us today.