Hello, I’m Kayla and welcome to my corner.
I love my parents. Many of you might love your parents too. You might look up to them. They might be your role models. Well mine are for me. They truly inspire me to be a better person, to not judge someone quickly, and to always try to push yourself to do the best you can. My parents have many friends. The stories behind them all, I don't know, but for some I was able to truly understand how open minded and big hearted and amazing people they are.
My mother tries to not speak bad about other people. She does the best she can. But she tries and that itself is a huge accomplishment at least to me. My father also. I have never once heard my father speak badly about someone whether or not I knew who the person was. There is another way in which my parents avoid this. They are never quick to judge a person based on what people say.
I want to tell you a story about how I truly realized what tremendous people my parents are. Let me set the tone. My family had just been to a celebrationparty of some very good friends of ours. We were in the car driving back, recount about the visit, saying how good it was to see all our old friends and such. This was early in the day when the trip was just starting off. I heard snippets of their conversation and asked for a name. They said no one and changed the subject. Fast forward a few hours and three states later, my brother and I heard a bit and asked again. My parents were reluctant to give names. I won't tell you the name but I can tell you the reason. There is this man that my parents are very good friends with. Let's call him Tom. They first met Tom when he came to town to help a friend of his out with some legal issues. Let's call the friend Bob. Bob was currently being shunned from the community because of accusations that later learned were true. Tom is a good man but because he was friends with Bob, he also was shunned. This is where my parents truly go above and beyond. They became friends with Tom. My father starting taking him to the temple to pray, they invited him over for meals, they truly made him feel welcomed. Skip a few years to Tom getting married. He had become more religious and had met this lovely young woman online. Tom had a few wives before so people were suspicious and because of the manner of which they met. My parents truly outdo themselves again. They made sure he had a wedding. They paid for the event, got a few people together, was asked to get a violinist friend of theirs to play. Tom worked at a restaurant in town, so his boss catered the event. His wife didn't speak a word of English when she came with her daughter. But I remember growing up and going to their house often. They bought a house in the neighborhood. Skip to present day in 2015. Tom and his wife now live in Israel (That or Switzerland, I forgot), his wife's daughter is engaged (I think actually she got married), they have another daughter who is about 8 now, they have been married for ten years, and my parents are still very good friends with them.
As a young girl growing up, my parents would often be asked to host a family who was there that weekend either wanting to move or convert. We once had this Nice family over for a Friday night meal. They were in the process of converting. I don't know if they did in the end but my parents time and time again opened their house for strangers. They go out of their way to be nice and kind to everyone.
My parents and others have told me time and time again I don't have a mean bone in my body and I'm lucky for that. I'm also lucky that my parents brought up me and my siblings to be polite and to have manners and to always be kind. I can only hope I portray that. They have also taught me to be friendly to everyone no matter what. I personally try to take that to heart every day. I can usually be found with a smile on my face, floating around talking to most anyone. I always say hello and ask how you are. I made presents for everyone in my class. On the first day of ninth grade I told myself to make it my goal to have befriended everyone in my class by the time we graduate. The next year I expanded my goal, to try to befriend every incoming ninth grade class. I wanted them to feel as welcomed and as loved as I did when I first came. When I first visit this school, back in January of 2013, I was unsure. I felt out of place a bit. But over time, I felt more comfortable. We always had each other's backs from contests and games to inside the classroom. I know someday I will graduate and if there is one thing I hope to still remember years later will be, to always show respect to one another and that it is okay to ask for help.
I'm grateful to have an open, kind, welcoming groups of friends, whether from school, camp, or youth groups. To have such inspiring parents to come home to every day. One day when I'm older, I hope the lessons of my parents and of my experiences will one day be passed onto my daughter who I hope will look at the world with an open mind and always wanting to help others just like My mother, my father, my school and my community.
Thank you.
-KC Signing Off xx
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