Oui Oui Oui

For 24 years of my life, kids scared the hell out of me.

Ever since I was 11 years old and had my nose bitten off by the family dog, I hated looking at and talking to kids.

Until I got cancer at 35 years old. Then that stuff got a lot less important.

I never really felt the urge to have kids - and this is briefly documented in my book - but there are currently a handful of kids I just love to death. Of them, there is Collin, Delaney, Nick, Lilly and Sara.

This weekend, I attended birthday parties for Nick and Sara (all five of those kids have birthdays between October 1 and December 23).

Nick is at the age where he says everything on his mind - not realizing that some things you say can hurt other peoples' feelings. And this is mostly why I hated dealing with kids prior to my cancer diagnosis.

And no matter how close I get to the kids, sooner or later, they will ask or say something about my nose.

When Collin, my oldest nephew, was old enough to ask me, I had already prepared a story.

In the story, I was in a fight with members of the Japanese Dioge (D-O-G) Clan. I told him a story of a great battle where I was knocked down over and over again, and finally one of the Dioges struck my face with his sword made of teeth. He knocked off my nose, but I eventually succeeded in defeating them.

As I got older, however, the telling of stories became more of a fun thing, rather than dealing with the serious question. As such, I just learned to deal with it and tell the truth - and usually, the kids are fine with whatever I tell them. And usually, they get bored with my answer before I even finish.

Realizing all of this - in addition to realizing that nearly everything in life is small - has helped me love these kids as much as they have come to love me.

I don't know how I would be as a dad, but I do know that I love being an uncle. "Cool Uncle Matt" - that's me, and that's what I strive to be. Even Sara, who is in her teenage years - thinks I'm cool, and will talk to me as long as parental units aren't around.

Even better than being the cool uncle, though, is that I will always know a different side of these kids. We will always treat each other as people, with respect. Their parents will never know them like that.

I, too, have a couple relationships like that with aunts and uncles... and I think that's pretty damn cool.