Hello. My name is ...

There are many things about my kids that amaze me on a daily basis. Noah's stubbornness ( I have no idea where he gets it from) but also how he laughs at everything ( I do know where he gets that from!) Well, Adin is a kid that honestly just fascinates me! From the time he could talk he has always been able to remember names of just about everybody. He could go around at church and call everybody by name. There were so many people who always told me that Adin made them feel so good because he knew there name! We consider it a great quality and I pray continually that is something that he is able to keep up. Now, we have entered a new phase though. My child's new "thing" is walking to up to anybody and holding out his hand saying " Hi my name is Adin. What is yours?" Not only that but if we are standing by him he will then introduce whoever is there with him. Case in point...Last night my mom, Adin, Noah and I were on a walk and as we were rounding the corner headed back to my parent's house he noticed the neighbors and there kids outside playing. He ran on ahead and I watched in amazement as he went up to 3 adult strangers and properly introduced himself, then proceeded to introduce himself to the kids that were playing. Before long he was playing with the kids as if he had known them for years. As I watched him do this I thought to myself that he has such an awesome love for people and getting to know new people. Then I also got to thinking...what if we as adults weren't worried about what other people thought about us and we were willing to walk up to complete strangers, introduce ourselves and constantly make new friends. How different would this world be if we weren't afraid that the stranger would think that we are weird or that for what ever reason they wouldn't like us. Adin doesn't know that fear...yet. I honestly pray that he doesn't learn it. At least not to the degree that most adults do.
This has been a hard lesson for me to learn/remember in moving to a new place. I am having to learn again how to be willing to risk being hurt to meet new friends. I am learning to be the one to stick my hand out and introduce myself and just hope that the other likes me. It is not easy. It is much easier to sit in a chair and hope everyone comes to introduce themselves to you. But that doesn't always happen. Sometimes we have to be willing to be the first person to extend the handshake...once again, it is not easy...it is often uncomfortable but the alternative to not meeting people is being alone...and that is a even less appealing. So here is to Adin for reminding me to be the first one to take that step.