M is for eMpathy

I've been meaning for a while to introduce you to my family. I was thinking of posting about each of my siblings from oldest to youngest, but I've already talked a bit about Lika (#2), and tomorrow is M's (#3) birthday, so I figure I might as well throw chronological order out the window and tell you about M. Then at some later point I'll tell you about SenecaSis (#1) and all the rest. (In case you're wondering, I am #7.)

I don't feel bad about not making a more creative blogonym for M than just her first initial because in real life we refer to her family--whether her and her husband, M, or her and her daughter, M--as M&M (get it? like the candy? okay, just making sure). Though I must say, it's much easier to keep the three of them--M, M, and M--straight when they have other letters following those first initials, to distinguish them from one another. Which is why, I suppose, S-Boogie calls Little M "Baninga."

Having wasted two paragraphs on nonsense, I'll now say that I don't want these family introduction posts to be too long, because I want people to actually read them. So I'm just going to pick out one thing that I think defines each of my siblings. In the case of M, in case you have not already guessed from the title of this post, it's empathy. M is the sister the rest of us go to when we need to talk about something. She is and always has been a good listener--rather than judge or give empty advice, she tries to understand. When few knew about my homosexuality and no one talked about it, M frequently asked me questions about what being gay meant for me, and considering that I am not one to offer much information voluntarily, I always appreciated her earnest attempts to comprehend my struggles. After her husband passed away a few years ago and she decided her career in human resources was not the best for a single mother, M went back to school to become a school counselor. The students at the schools she works at are lucky, I think, to have such a great listener there for them.