Amanda is the 16 year old daughter of Bill and Lisa Williams, my next door neighbors. I have been friends with her ever since they moved into the house next door to ours when she was 7 years old. Since I don’t work I spend a lot of time around the house and do a lot of work in the yard. Of course as all young children do, Amanda spent a lot of time playing outside and we would see each other a lot. She was very friendly and since I’ve always liked little girls we just naturally became friends and I spent a lot of my time playing with her. She thought it was “cool” that a grown-up would want to spend time with her and enjoy playing all the games she liked.
She treated me like one of her friends, not as she did other adults. Since she is an only child I think she was often lonely, not that she didn’t have friends her own age but they weren’t always around. So she and I got to be very close as she grew up and I finally had the opportunity to enjoy a sweet, wonderful child as my wife and I never had children of our own. But what was so special was that I didn’t have the responsibility of a parent and none of disciplinary problems that go with it. I could enjoy her every minute we were together. I think her parents were relieved to have me spend time with her because they knew she was in good hands and that she was happy around me.