My Oldest Daughter

Day #4: My oldest daughter, Jessica Chesney or as I like to call her, "Jess."
When Mary and I were first married I didn't want any children. I had grown up in a home with numerous foster children and really I just didn't want kids around. So, we waited until we had been married for 7-years before deciding to have them. If I had only known in the beginning what a joy it would be to have a child I would not have waited.

Jess was our firstborn. We made all of the mistakes that first time parents make, trying to overdo everything. We were so protective; boiling the bottles, the pacifiers, always worried we were doing something wrong. But somehow Jess survived us. I will never forget holding that little precious girl in my arms thinking how unworthy I was that God had blessed us with her.

Everyone likes to think that their child is smarter and more beautiful and talented than any other child but Jess really is. She was always advanced in everything. Her greatest love as a child was music. She always wanted to listen to the radio or CD's or watch music videos on television. She could hear a song one time and remember the words and sing it back to you. She still loves music today and she is a great singer but she doesn't have any confidence in her abilities, something I wish I could change.

Jess is very creative. Her mind is always going, coming up with new ideas for different projects. She is very artistic and can draw and design things. She was a very good student in school and made great grades in everything except math (she got her bad math genes from me). If you need something creative done, give Jess a call. She is also a whizbang on the computer.

Out of our three children I have to say that Jess is the most caring. She worries herself to death over people all the time and tries to help everyone in need. She never seeks recognition for helping people, in fact, she goes to great lengths to make sure that they don't know she was the one that helped them. I've seen her work all week and make some money and then mail it anonymously to someone in need. She often gives to missions at Church, putting her money in the mission collection jar without anyone knowing.

Jess has the greatest sense of humor that you have ever seen. She is constantly laughing and joking. You would probably never know that unless you lived in our house because she is very quiet everywhere else. She and I have very similar personalities and we have a blast just sitting around making fun of each other and coming up with silly sayings. We make each other laugh and if she is down about something I usually know just what to say to snap her out of it.

Jess is a very good girl. At her age a lot of girls are out running around getting into trouble and experimenting with things but she is very grounded. I have never worried that she is going to do something stupid and bring shame to herself. She likes to hang out with me and Mary in the living room and we often call her "PG", short for "Parents Girl."

There is so much more that I could share about Jessica and the things that I love and admire about her, but you should really get to know her for yourself, she is definitely one of a kind.