You may not be a teacher by profession, but you definitely have, as Dave Ramsey would say, a heart of a teacher. You've taught me and my siblings so much--how to read text written or held upside down, what AIDS stands for, the nutrition values of vegetables, how to replace broken car headlights among many things.
I appreciate how you take the time to understand how kids unpack and analyze new information. You answer our questions as you ask some of your own. You have always encouraged us to think harder and quicker and smarter. For some people, your method can be intimidating, but for me and my siblings, at least, it was incisive. Here was an adult who fielded our questions as if they had come from another adult. We weren't allowed to settle into an easy explanation. If it were too easy, we were taught to be mindful that it could be a joke.
For appreciating what we kids bring to the table, I thank you. I remember that you are not above telling us that you are wrong, or that we managed to change your perspective, or that we challenged you to be more gracious and forgiving of others. There are so many specific things you have generously shared with us, like your current favorite song, or your famous ngohiong, or stories of your adventurous conversation with foreign language-speaking friends, or lengthy discussions about Dave Ramsey's financial advice, or stories of you and your siblings, or the warmth of your homes. I am grateful to you for stretching my mind and imagination.
We will always fondly remember the time we first heard Nelly's Hot in Herre. You have always been a cool uncle.
Love--
