Touching Moment

The end of Term 2 officially arrived today. It is all down hill starting on Monday.

I had a couple of students who stayed after school (on a Friday) to finish their book reports. Either that's dedication or extreme procrastination. When they asked if I was staying after school I wanted to cry because of course I will stay after school if they need extra time. But man did I want to go home and get in bed! I was just exhausted today. This has been a long work week! I go to work early and stay late (early being the time I'm supposed to be there: 7:30ish. I don't go earlier than I should...I actually don't get there on time as it is...) and then I go home and do more work. Yeah. It's been one of those weeks.

So, once after school came, I was not relieved of duty, but rather continued to trudge on for another hour.

One of the girls that stayed had finished her paper in a few minutes, but she had to wait for her brother, so she just kind of hung out in my classroom. Everyone else had left and she was getting ready to meet up with her brother when she said, "Thanks so much for helping me. It means a lot."
I non-chalantly said, "It's no big deal. Any time."
She emphasized one more time, "No. Really. Thank you so much. It means so much." This was when I noticed that her voice shook just a bit, and it is possible her eyes got a bit wet. I wanted so badly to give her a hug and tell her how much I cared about her. She apologized for being a punk at the beginning of the year and said thanks for everything.

During the hour she was there she said a few things that gave me a small picture of what it is like in home. She said she wished her mom would give her a pat on the back instead of saying, "You should have just stayed in READ 180 [the Special Ed reading class]." I also got the impression that there isn't a lot of support at home.

I told her that I liked her and she was welcome to come after school and hang out in my classroom any day that she needed to - except for Mondays because I have meetings on Mondays. She thanked me and left.

What a sweet moment. It's moments like those that bring me a little closer to the Spirit and make me so grateful to be where I am. Please take a moment to be grateful for those people in your life who have supported and loved you. We don't always know how blessed we are.

-Ms. Damron-