As a Special Education teacher I spend my days planning,
teaching, and advocating for a future.
Not my future, the future of my students. We all talk about, “one day when they are
older” or “when they go to high school”
but do we really think about what we want.
I know, you are saying, yes, I think about the students job and living
arrangement. Their social group and how
their family will support them. But do
we consider the little things, the moments that we all remember from our high
school days but see as small moments. I
have to say, that I forgot the little things.
Or at least I did until a young man, whom I have been
fortunate enough to have in my life the past 12 years reminded me what really
mattered. He is an amazing young man who
happens to use an augmentative communication device and wheelchair. But please, remember, he is a young man. He has crushes on girls, passions, and hopes
just like everyone. One of his hopes was
fulfilled by a cousin who saw what I didn’t;
the little things matter.
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| reproduced with permission from their mom's and the young woman |
Yes, I am talking about prom. He went to prom, complete with two beautiful
dates who danced with him and enjoyed it along side him. His younger brother fit his chair with a camera
and he shared the expeience later with his family in film as using the talker
is more tedious. At one point, as the
juniors and seniors all circled around while individuals danced in and out of
the circle, the young man’s classmates made room and had him join the center
for his few seconds of dance solo. Yes,
one night of prom matters, and to a young junior, it is a highlight. Prom wasn’t a single night. No, it was a lifetime of memory. I will always be grateful that he was my
teacher as to how to plan what matters most in a person’s life. I will carry this lesson with me the next
time I start a sentence with “One day….”
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| Thanks, all three of you!!! |
