happy birthday auntie melissa!

I gave up trying to be the favorite auntie several years ago. When it comes to my sister Melissa, there's just no competition. Even though I lived just a few minutes away from Janelle's kids and saw them several times a month, even though I lavished them with toys and clothes whenever I could, even though I bribed them with candy and treats if they would say I was their favorite, I just couldn't compete with Melissa.

One time I came over to Janelle's house and I announced that their favorite auntie was here, Brixen (who is the most honest kid I've ever met) just said, "no you're not." There it was, game over. But I was happy to concede defeat to Melissa. Auntie Melissa, who lives all the way over in Hawaii will always be the favorite.

I'm just grateful that I now have a child of my own to be blessed to have an Auntie Melissa.

Auntie Melissa just has a way about her. She loves kids and kids LOVE her. She's a high school math teacher in Hawaii and her students love her. They hang out in her classroom at lunch, after school, they even come on Saturdays. Now, I'm not sure what kind of teachers you had in high school, but I don't remember a single one who I'd CHOOSE to hang out with.

Can I just brag about a few things that she does? In addition to teaching about the regular math stuff, she teaches the practical things that kids will need in life. One of the students' favorite classes is where the kids actually think of and run a business. A REAL business. They might sell t-shirts or food, or anything like that. They have to present their business plan to the banker (Melissa) to apply for a loan. Their presentation determines the interest rate on their loan. And then the kids receive money, ACTUAL money, to start and run their business. And guess where the money comes from? NOT the school. From my sister, Melissa. Now teachers in Hawaii, like most teachers, are not paid well. But she does it because she believes in teaching the kids something important.

I don't know how many years she's been doing this now, but it's been a long time. And she's only had one group who hasn't paid back their loan. The rest of the groups have paid back the loan and made a bit of money. And guess what they do with that profit? Does it go in my sister's bank account for the next semester? Nope. It goes to a charity.

Pretty amazing huh?

Can I share one more thing? She chaperone's a group of students on an international trip every year. It's no surprise that she's usually the favorite chaperone in the group. The thing that is surprising is that she manages to take a student with her that would normally NEVER be able to afford or experience a trip like that. She works really hard to raise money and contributes quite a bit herself each year to take a deserving student. She's in the process of creating a non-profit organization so she can continue to raise money to take a teenager to Italy or Greece or France.

When I asked her why someone would want to donate money for a teenager to go to Italy when there are lots of starving kids in the world, she told me a story. It was a story (true of course) of a student who was so amazed by the opportunity and so touched that it literally changed her life. She had no idea what was out there in the world. Previously, she didn't really have any goals other than day-to-day survival. And now she did.

So happy birthday Auntie Melissa. And thank you for not only filling our lives with happiness and laughter, but also making this a better world.

We love you and love you.

Tony, Natalie and (your favorite) nephew, Ryan