“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. – Colossians 3:12
I have to give a huge shout out to my daughter, Cyana! She’s 8 years old and in second grade. She is smaller than most kids her age, but she is so mighty and has such a loving heart. She’s a rule follower and doesn’t like to get into trouble. What I love about her most is her individuality. She marches to her own set of drums. She does this with her sense of style as well as with her choice of friends.
Several months ago, she started telling me about a boy her in class. She says the sweetest things about him. They sometimes walk to class together; she tells me that he’s super funny and always makes her laugh; she’ll occasionally sit next to him at lunch etc. She’s at an age where girls play with girls and boys play with boys, so I was glad that she was still giving boys a chance at friendship! After weeks of sweet and funny stories about this little boy, she finally blurted out that he has special needs. I was so proud of her for befriending this little boy.
I picked her up from school last week and she walked out with this cute boy and introduced him to me. It was the friend I’ve heard so much about. Little did I know that I had been chatting with his mom right before they walked up. I recognized her from class parties but didn’t know who her child was. I was excited to finally meet her friend and I could tell Cyana was proud to finally introduce him. I told his mom that Cyana says the sweetest things about him all the time and she said, “Oh, Cyana is all Owen talks about! She is so gracious and kind to him. Every day she helps him get his coat on; she holds his hand on the way to class and helps open his lunchbox, really whatever he needs.” I looked at Cyana with great joy in my heart and said, “You do??” She hadn’t shared any of that with me. I had no idea that she was recognizing the needs of her new friend and going out of her way to ensure his needs were met. I tried keeping my reactions to a minimum, but I really wanted to tear up because I was so proud of my daughter.
So, my new favorite thing about Cyana is that she is selfless and exemplifies what a good neighbor is. My heart is full! I want to think that Brian and I had something to do with that, but mostly I think it’s a choice. Each of us has the same choice – what kind of neighbor do we truly want to be?
– Jamie Williamson, Edmond Campus Director of Administration
