Fictional people are some of my favorites.  I love fiction.  It's ok to despise someone in fiction.  Not sinful at all.  They don't exist!  It's a beautiful way to get your frustrations out on someone who can't be hurt by it. 

Conversely, it is also wonderful to find a fictional character that inspires you.  Have you ever read a book and fallen in love with a character so much that you wanted to emulate them?  I have several characters that I identify with... I understand the way they think, act, and interact.  I understand them because there is a bit of me in there somewhere.  But it's the people that I want to emulate that really surprises me.

Lori Wick.  She's not really my favorite writer.  I like very few of her books.  Most of what she writes is too sappy for my taste.  I like Sophies Heart,  The Pretense, and To Know Her by Name.  Those books have good story lines that override any drippy romance that usually I roll my eyes and sigh over.  However one of her books, Promise Me Tomorrow, while incredibly sappy and overly romantic for my sensibilities, has a character that calls to me everytime I read it.  The young woman has a delight and love for children that I envy.  She is completely comfortable around children in general in a way I cannot comprehend.  She is self assured without being arrogant in her interactions with children, and with adults as she discusses children. 

It's her love and care and DELIGHT in children that makes me love her so much.  The fact that she has lovely red hair and is petite doesn't hurt her in my eyes either.  Exactly how I would have ordered my 'looks' had I been required to fill out an order form.  But really, I am not unhappy with how God made me... or am I?  Is there something wrong with me for wanting that delight and enjoyment in children that I simply don't have.  I love my children.  I am happy that they are here and around me.  And actually, I do delight in them... but it doesn't show.  I am not naturally demonstrative.  Natrually.  hmmmmmmm Seems to me that the last time I talked about 'natural' that I found it isn't always a good thing.

Will God override my natural reservedness with people and help me learn to just immerse myself into my children's lives in a way that I've never been able to do before?  I hope so.  I'd love to be like 'Rusty'.  She inspires me.  Encourages me.  She makes me feel like I'm lacking but not in a self-defeating way.  Rather she seems to prod me to try again.

Fiction.  You gotta love it.  Especially when it  encourages you to push past your comfort zone in ways that enhances other people's comfort zones.