Melia playing the “pickle-o”.

Lia’s “scary face”.

Sometimes her choice of funny things to say isn’t all that appropriate. Like the time she sat at the dining room table “reading” the ingredients from the cereal box and announced that it contained, “one cup of diarrhea.”

We have volumes of video footage of her performing everything from “magic” tricks where she tells the audience to close their eyes so she has the opportunity to make something “disappear” to extremely dramatic piano playing complete with eyes closed in a dreamy, yet artsy expression.

“Look, ma! I know how to drive!”

“Every family has one…”

As I sit and think about my uncle’s introduction, I realize he has it all wrong. Yes, every family has that child who stands out, some for the good and some for the not-so good. But, each child is someone special; someone who brings to the family table something different, a uniqueness that adds to the family dynamic.

Often in a family with many children, those who don’t know us that well seem to lump all the children together. They fail to see individual faces. But we, as parents, know what makes each of our children different. We can point out strengths and weaknesses in each child and we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that our family would be very different without even one of those individuals.

So, yes, we have that entertaining (and sometimes embarrassing) child, but we also have the scientific thinker, the artsy naturalist, the daring adventurer, the sweet-spirited heaven dweller, and the curious george.

“Every family has one…these are ours.”