The Woman that Defined Kindness

First and foremost I want to let you know that if my words were dipped in honey and garnished with gold they still wouldn’t do this woman justice. I was honestly hoping to cover a few smaller acts of kindness before trying to accurately put into words, a person who has lived a life of kindness with such incalculable far reaching effects.

Terry Cole is a mom, but she is more like a mom squared, cubed or to the 5th power.  She has had 4 biological children, she has managed to adopt 8 children and is in the process of adopting another. She has fostered over 40 children, but not just any children, the children that no one else would take. The children that are born with drug addictions, the children with known behavioral problems, and the children with intense health issues that have her constantly running to medical appointments. She deserves a medal for all that stuff, but it doesn’t stop there. This woman even mentors birth mothers and works with them to get their children back, in a sense grand mothering them and maintaining lasting relationships. Some say, that after meeting her Chuck Norris stopped fighting and took up a life of quiet contemplation and rescuing orphaned animals.

This woman is a hero.  There are so many people we look up to in sports, music and Hollywood. But this is the woman we SHOULD be looking up to. Thank God I had the opportunity to know her. Thank God I got to live life alongside a woman who’s response to me referring to “the terrible twos”  was “The twos are wonderful.” To me, and to the people who know her she is super human. Her powers include patience, gentleness and kindness in measures that we previously didn’t know one person could contain. She has not committed an act of kindness, her entire life is an expression of kindness. My desire to succeed is fueled by a desire to give big, and my desires were inspired by Terry Cole, the biggest giver I know. This woman should be on Ellen receiving a new house/car, an all expense paid vacation, and maid service for life.. If a reality show featured her, the world couldn’t help but change. But she has already changed the world, one child at a time. Terry Cole has always and will continue to be the greatest person I know. Thanks so much to her daughter Janelle for asking me to recognize her. It was a humbling feat and I am grateful for the chance to honor such a woman.

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