At the recent Think Kindness parent’s night, Gary Xavier, delivered a speech about family. He covered three realities that families face and what they can do cope with such realities. Today, family is: vulnerable, cohesive, and timeless. His speech really stuck with and got me thinking about my own family, most importantly how my family is timeless.

The fact that I am a product of a “broken home” never negatively affected my perspective of family. From an early age I understood my family was considered broken because was father was missing and my mother was the sole provider for our family. However, I did not let my father’s absence define what family mean to me.

Family, to me, has always been the people who never hesitated to express their love, showed constant support and encouragement, and most importantly they were my source of happiness. My mother, older sisters, god family, and extended family collectively were the ones who lived up to my definition of family. They all have contributed equally to my family unit, especially my God Father, better known as Uncle Jeff.

My Uncle Jeff not only was a great father to his own two children but he made an effort to be a great father figure for my sisters and I. He never missed birthdays, attended basketball games, and liked surprising us with trip to Six Flags, Knott’s Berry Farm, or our favorite water park. Even when our family relocated to Vacaville, CA, which was about 8 hours form my hometown where my Uncle lived, he still managed to show how much he cared about us.

The same type of love, kindness, and care he showed towards my sisters and I have now been passed down to my nephew. My oldest sister has a five-year-old son who been taken under my uncle’s wing as well. My uncle continues to do the same types of things for Caleb as he did for my sisters and I. I can just tell my how much my nephew has grown to love and admire my uncle and I know it is for the same exact reasons I have.

I am forever grateful for all the things my uncle has done for my family and what he continues to do. He is the reason why I believe my family is timeless; his loyalty to my family has lasted for more than 25 years, which is quite commendable. As I think ahead, I know for sure I want my family to have the same type of timelessness because it is key in keeping family together.

Ashlea Moore is currently a senior at the University of Nevada, Reno majoring in Community Health Sciences. She also is an intern at Think Kindness. Ashlea chose to get involved with Think Kindness because of their innovative and creative way to decrease bullying in schools nationwide. The organization is striving to change the world through acts of kindness, which is something she wanted to contribute to.