The World Around Us

What I have found to be the most amazing consequence of this journey is how it has shaped my perspective about everything else. As I sit and (impatiently) wait for our kids, I go to work everyday and bring what I have learned this summer with me. I teach 12th graders in a rural school district. In an English classroom, I have a lot of opportunity to hear personal stories and reflections. 


It has always been surprising to me what my kids go through at home. I grew up in a home where I had a loving, supportive mom. Dinner was always on the table. I had notes in my lunchbox, and no one ever wanted to trade with me because I had a nice, nutritional meal. Teaching was the first time that I truly understood that this was not the experience everyone was privileged to have. My first teaching experience was in Brooklyn. One of my students slept under the Brooklyn Bridge every night to avoid his father. Another was in the midst of his second  trial for larceny. When I moved to a sleepy rural town and began to teach there, I thought that I would escape those challenges. 


During our classes this summer, I realized a very simple truth: there is hardship everywhere. People are concerned by the trauma that foster children have experienced. So am I, but...there is hardship everywhere. So much of it is hidden from us, but we only have to look to see that there are children everywhere that could use support and encouragement that they most likely are not receiving at home. I am constantly amazed by the things my students tell me. They spill the details of their lives in an offhand way, and it is a constant balancing act not to push them into closing down---or telling too much.


This year, as I walked into my classroom and looked at the faces surrounding me, I remembered all the stories we heard in our classes. I remembered the stories my past students have thought nothing of telling me, and I realized that ANY of these kids could be the kids I want to save. I hope I never lose sight of that. I love my job, almost as much as I love being a mom---and sometimes, I am pretty sure that it's the exact same thing.