This world, the one we most often take for granted, is something that we are used to waking up into daily. We go to our boring 9-5 and wish that the hour hand moved faster than what our mind perceives to be just another Dali clock on the wall melting away. However, this is not the case for some and in the last year I have learned that.

Picture this, it's 7:15 am and you are waking up without a care in the world other than "is this a day I go to daycare or not?" This is my enjoyment every morning as my fiance and I get the kids ready for school. Everyday it's the same five words, "am I going to daycare?" The response 5 times out of seven is simply, "yes."

Now, let's put aside all the things that we think we may know as adults and really remember what it is like for two seconds to be a kid and that excitement we felt during our formative years. The real reason I have gathered you here today after all is tell you the simple lessons that this little girl has taught me. Really there are many things but I will try to keep the list short.

First things first, you treat people how you want to be treated. I learned this on the day that I picked her from daycare and she looked very sad. I asked,"What's wrong, baby?" Her response was something to the tune of, "so and so was mean to me today and I didn't want to get them in trouble so I just kept to myself and said I'm sorry you think you have to be mean to me." It was right then and there that I knew this child was destined for greatness. She doesn't hold resentment toward those who bring trouble into her life and I decided that neither should we. No matter what happens in your daily routine there is no reason to take out anger and frustration on those around you because you're having a bad day.

Our next lesson came from the playground. One summer day we were playing at our local playground when all of the kids were essentially shunning this little girl and refusing to play with her. However, our four year old ran up to me and said, "daddy she looks sad cause she has no friends to play with, can I be her friend?" Well let's just say the waterworks started welling up in my eyes as I realized how good of a person she was and how she was the change I wanted to see in the world. She still refuses to let someone play alone.

Finally, she taught me the most important lesson I think I have ever learned in my life and that is simply that a child's love truly is unconditional. Being a step-parent is tough work sometimes because you are a new role model coming into someone's life and you hope that you have a positive impact but you strive for so much more than that. Every night when we go to bed and i'm tucking her in she always has to "tell me a secret" and then those three words roll off her tongue and pass through her lips and I know that for that day I did my job right and that we get to go through everything again tomorrow.

I encourage each and every person out there to take a step back and listen to the children of world, you just might learn a thing or two.