So there's this little boy who doesn't stand out too much in my class for positive reasons. He's behind grade-level academically, but he's generally pretty sweet. I steer him away from the "bad" kids so he isn't too influenced, but he has to work really, really hard to generate ideas, so everything I ask of him is pretty taxing.
He pops into my class this morning and I say, "Oh hey, y'all come on in."
He responds with a grin, "Oh, it's just me."
"Oh, just you? Did you take the lunch count? Ms. Dean must really think you're being responsible to take the lunch count. She really trusts you. Good work, buddy!" I like to be motivational, no matter what's going on.
"Yep, it's my first time to take the lunch count."
"So, you want to help me get the room ready, since they're late and you're on time?"
So he is helping me pass journals out, etc. and he sparks up a bit of a conversation. This isn't unusual per se, for kids to reveal things to me, but for this kid, he's been pretty quiet because my class is a little over his head and he just kinda lays low. It was the most I've heard out of him, for sure.
He speaks up, "I won't be here on Thursday."
"Oh yeah, why not? Got a doctor's appointment?"
He kind of looks down and says, "I'm going to Detroit (but say it DEE-troit) Michigan."
"All that way? On a plane and everything? What for?"
His words just kind of spilled out at this point- I could tell he'd heard a lot from his mom about this and he was putting it all together in his head. "My uncle's had a stroke. The whole family's got to go take care of him."
"Well, who's taking care of him now?"
"The hospital. And my grandma."
I looked at this little boy, and truly saw the face of an angel sent to tell me what I needed to hear. I said to him, "You know what, I'm going through something similar. I have a relative who's had a stroke too and we're trying to help her and take care of her."
"But it's going to be okay, Miss G. God will take care of everything."
That part, I'm pretty sure he wasn't reinterpretting from his mom. It came from a much greater source of power and greatness.
