Building Relationships

See this girl? She is a winner.  Those are her words, all day long today.  Mom, "I am A Winner!".  Angie received a Golden Paw award at school today for Building Relationships.  I know, isn't that perfect?  Her teacher was spot-on.

Building relationships is a hard skill.  Not only for kids, but for many, many adults.  Actually, I think we become worse at building relationships as we get older.  I am not sure why but I suspect our pride and selfishness just gets in the way far too often.  Broken relationships?  Halfway-there, mediocre relationships?  Those we have mastered.  Not Angie, though.  She is all about connecting with others and engaging them in conversation. Angie has never met a stranger. Or I should say, no one stays a stranger to Angie.  She has expanded her world by building as many relationships as she can.  I admire her so much.

After the awards were given, a number of kids from each grade level were chosen to participate in a relay activity.  Angie was one of the 6 kindergartners chosen to compete and my protective Mommy heart was instantly worried.  Why do I do that?  She can do ANYTHING!  I was so proud as Angie rolled her pumpkin (a ball) down the gym floor, picked it up, and ran back to her team.  She sat in her spot on the floor and cheered for her team and at the end of the activity, the Kinders were The Winners!......thus, Angie's repeated comment that she was A Winner for the rest of the day.  She made it clear that it was not the personal award that meant the most to her, it was her participation on the winning team.  There is a lesson for us here.

I mean what I say when I tell you that Angie was sent here to teach us.  I may be overthinking, but if I am it is working for me.  Every single day I learn something from Angie's approach to life.  She takes on every challenge believing she is able.  And she is.  She greets every day looking for good.  And she finds it.  She is not burdened by her physical limitations and they do not hold her back.  My life has been changed for knowing Miss Angie and I would venture a guess that others that Angie has built relationships with along the way would say the same.  What a gift she has given us and I am thankful we were able to celebrate her yesterday for her impact on our lives.