The Other Part of My Life

This is the other part of my life - teacher. This time of the year is always bittersweet for me. Like a mom, I hate graduation because I am sending off ESL kids I have known for years - students I have mentored through problems with friends and family, prepared for college, and have teased and played with. I am going to miss them. On the other hand, I am so proud because they are ready to go.

Tonight I went to Olive Garden and I saw one of my former students. He graduated 4 years ago. His girlfriend (now wife) was pregnant at the time, so he didn't go to college, but he told me tonight that he is still trying to figure out how to work two jobs, be a husband and a dad and be a student, "I have applied to CLC, and when I go, you will be the first one to know." Those are the memories I hold on to.

This is one of my American Lit. Skills students - Kyle failed my class last year, and had to retake second semester. I love working with kids like him because they need something other than a literature class. They need skills and someone to believe that they can be successful, and I work hard to do that - even kids who fail my class like to come back and tell me that they feel respected. The one thing they need that I wish I could point them to more clearly is a relationship with Christ, but I hope that what I do communicate is a piece of a puzzle that gets put together somewhere else at some other time.

A couple of weeks ago, I was truly considering other job options for the first time (a really BAD parent situation), but when I think of Bogdan, Pavel, Agnieszka, Miguel, and Kyle, I know God has me in the right place.