Empathy

Alcoholics do not have empathy in my opinion. When we were about to bring over a 15-year old exchange student from France, my in-laws were outraged. I remember my father-in-law's wife screaming at me, "What are you exchanging?" Keep in mind we were at my grandfather's funeral.

It's always tit for tat. I don' think that way. I looked at this kid and I knew I wanted to have him in our home. My in-laws spent all the months he was with us kicking and screaming about it. One reason they gave is they felt that his presence would take away from our own children. I felt like he added to our lives in numerous ways, and I was sad to see him go.

I grew up volunteering. Delivering turkey dinners during the holidays made me grateful for what we had. It humbled me.

My husband never seems that interested in helping out. I don't think he ever grew up that way - how could he have? There was always too much chaos.

My family had its own problems and dysfunctions. Volunteering showed me that the world was bigger than me. That there was more out there than my family and whatever problems we may be having.

One of the reasons I chose the church that I did for our family is that they are very active in our community. They build houses for Habitat for Humanity, and work with the local Food Bank and do international outreach.

I want my children to look beyond themselves.