Monday.

Today started off poorly for me. But hey, it was a Monday morning so I should have seen it coming. I woke up at 4:45 to my dog making the noises she makes before she throws up. And she threw up at 4:46. After I cleaned up and she calmed down, we laid back down. But I lay awake. So, I woke up this Monday morning at 4:45. Also my right eye was so swollen due to the pollen I encountered on my balcony last night that it was painful to see and not to mention incessantly watering. And my left side sunburned legs were uncomfortably painful in any work appropriate garments. Needless to say, I said "I hate Mondays" a minimum of 4 times before the first bell even rang.
But just when the morning seemed it couldn't have ever gotten better, it did. Much like when you are running a race and think you'll never make it, but you do. Just like when you check your mailbox just for the heck of it not expecting anything but it is full to the rim of letters, magazines and goodies!
There is a student here (who will remain nameless but I will use the letter 'S' to personify the student) who has a special hold on my heart. I can't really explain it or give a specific reason to why S has such a high priority of my attention. It might be because S is on my caseload, it may be because S comes into my room multiple times a day just to say hey, it's possible that it's because S has shared S's life with me and in turn has touched my life as well. To me, it’s not really important why S is important to me and I don't feel I have to justify it to anyone because I am a teacher. And because I am a teacher, my students will be important to me. No matter what.
Anyways, I know a lot about S. I know S's home life situation, I know S's desires for life and I know S's struggles. I know how much S cares about family, education, jobs and the here-and-now. So when it came to celebrating the senior year rite-of-passage, aka PROM, I knew S would want to go but that S would have to make a lot of things come together for it to be possible.
Now, again, the logistics and details as to how this happened aren’t important. But I wanted to make sure S went to prom, with a date, and only had to pay for the essentials. So I did just that. I saw true gratitude and thankfulness from S when S found out about prom being taken care of. I felt genuine sincerity from S when S spent the majority of the day in and out of my room shaking S's head saying how I would never know the magnitude of thankfulness S had.
But none of this happened on a Monday morning. Nor at any time on a Monday. But it does lead me to this Monday morning.  S stopped at the doorway to say the usual 'Good morning' and lead into small talk. As I asked my typical 20 questions about the weekend, S eventually walked into my room and came to my desk and in the most sly and most sleek way slid a card on my desk upside down so I wouldn't see that it had my name on it. Luckily for S, I may be obnoxious and a stone’s throw short of usually caring about calling someone out, however I knew S was trying to play it cool. I knew this because 1. My aide was in the room and 2. I am awkward when it comes to giving people stuff that shows any sort of raw and real emotion. After it was slipped on my desk, S quickly exited my room without looking back at me once.
I waited till I knew S wasn't coming back. I opened up the card and held it in my hands and read it underneath my desk so nobody would see it, in respect of S. I've debated what excerpt to write on my blog or how to briefly summarize it. But I've decided against both those options because I feel I wouldn't be giving Monday the kind of treatment it deserves! That I may be shortening someone else out of changing their ...monday... into a Monday. So to whomever reads this, may your case of the Monday's turn into a case of it’s-closer-to-Tuesday!



The card:
"Most great people have something in common: they all have at least one person in their corner who believes in them. I'm sure I'm only one of many who admire and think the universe of you.
I hope you can draw endless energy from knowing that wherever you are, whatever you're going through, there will always be someone to count on.
There will always be someone somewhere wishing the best for you, rooting for you in spirit.
There will always be someone who thinks of you, cares for you, loves you.
That someone is me. -D. Derrick Barnes"

Thanks,


S.