Moving my way down the aisle at the grocery store, I see a family trying to corral a toddler. As she climbs on top of the stocked cases of pop, her mom grabs her, tickling her. Dad looks at me and moves on. Then turns around and says, "You were one of my teachers."
Of course, he is a grown man and looks nothing like a 4th grader, so I say, "Ok, you are going to have to tell me who you are because you have obviously changed since I had you in school."
He tells me his name, and my face lights up. When I ask him if this is his family, he introduces me and tells me what he is doing. My heart flips and flops as I look at him with so much admiration. He is in the army and stationed in Georgia, due to get out next summer. He will have a degree in criminology and wants to come back here and work on the sheriff's department. His wife is working on her master's degree in social work.
This is a student who came from some very hard places. He saw things as a child that no child should ever see. His mother was a meth addict and was in and out jail so many times. He was exposed to domestic violence and was eventually raised by his grandfather. He was one of those students who you just prayed would somehow break away from those chains. He struggled in school, but he knew school was the safest place he could be.
I wished him luck and thanked him for stopping and saying something to me.
Leaving the store that day, my heart was smiling. Those are the success stories we as teachers love to hear and what makes teaching have a purpose beyond the ABCs and the 1,2,3s.
What a Saturday morning blessing!
Thank you Two Writing Teachers for creating a space to share a small corner of my world.