It's What Makes You, You

This morning during breakfast I was trying to explain to my five-year-old son that he wouldn't be able to go with his dad to pick rock. I explained to him that the truck to put rocks in was too tall, the rocks too heavy, and the work too hard. “So,” I said, “You won't be going.” He simply turned his head to one side and said, “Why?” And that is why I love him. It is precisely his lack of complete understanding that makes him so perfectly charming at times, and I think that there is a weakness or quirk about every person that makes them who they are and gives them that special something that makes them loveable.
Take my dad, for instance. He was never a religious man. He grew up without his dad, became a farm hand at age eight, worked hard all his life to support a large family and just didn't believe in anything, except maybe work. But that is what I love about him. My mother on the other hand is intensely religious, has a wonderful, supportive family and believes in many causes. It's what I love about her. Sometimes people think that they have to have some special amazing skill in order for them to be valid human beings. They think that if they could only write like Shakespeare or play the piano like Liberace, or paint like Rembrandt that they would then be worth something. But every person living has something unique to them that makes them valuable to others.
I had a band director in college who seemed like he never smiled. It wasn't that he scowled, it's just that he was very serious. Some people were afraid of him because of it, but it made me respect and love him. It was his seriousness about the music that pushed everyone to work harder and bring a greater level of commitment to the performance. However, I don't think that he would have seen his 'seriousness' as a strength or a gift. But to me it was his greatest gift. We all want to see ourselves as having some great gift; something that will change the world or at least cause people to take notice. But when I think about the people I know and care about, I realize that I love them for the very things that they would see as weaknesses.
I love my grandma for the round curve of her back that has been molded by years of hugging children and I love the straightness of the back of a young Eagle Scout. I love the children in my life for their innocence and lack of perfect knowledge of the world, and I love the grandfathers in my life who seem to know everything but have learned that they are just beginning to know something. I love big people for being big, and small people for being small. I love smart people for making mistakes, and I love simple people for being profoundly simple. I love church when I forget that I'm at church and just feel at home, and I love home the most when there is a happy chaos. I love people who can laugh at themselves, and I love people who cry at the drop of a hat. I love the cold of winter and the heat of summer, the rain of spring and the dead leaves of fall.
Everyone needs to feel appreciated. However, I never thought I could be appreciated for just being me. But I learned that my brother appreciates that I laugh at his jokes. “Hey, no problem” I said. “I don't have to work at that.” My son appreciates that I read him a story at night; No practice required, proficiency optional. That I can handle. My daughter appreciates that I listen to her. My friend thinks I'm her long lost sister. My children love it when I cook breakfast. My husband thinks it's cool when I want to go for a ride on the four-wheeler. We don't have to 'save the world' or be the next Movie Star to be loved and appreciated. Just be yourself all the time. It's what makes you, you. It's what makes you great.