Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Admiration

"We have a few autistic children in my school and none of them have parents who advocate for them as much as you. I really admire how dedicated you are to doing what's best for Jimmy."

This was from an e-mail my 25 year old niece sent me. She admires me. That's sweet. What she doesn't know is that I admire her more - she had her kids at 17 and 19, by a boy who has never really paid the ordered child support (he was only ordered to pay $50 for both.) She works at an elementary school, she goes to college, and until recently was raising those kids on her own. My sister helped out a lot, by my niece has never let her situation get the best of her. When she finally got married this summer, it wasn't to the non-father of the children, but to a man she loves and who loves her and her children. She is 12 years younger, but has always had the courage to make the best of her difficult choices. I admire her for that.

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