At my triplets 4th birthday party our middle triplet got a tummy ache. She was standing in the middle of our living room when she got “the look”. It was all coming up. As she began to throw up, her preschool teacher flew across the room (seriously, I think she had a super hero cape on) and actually caught my daughters vomit in her hands.
“Um, did you just catch my daughter’s vomit?”
“Yes, what was I else was I supposed to do?”
She then spent the next few minutes helping me clean up what made its way to the floor and what made its way on to my daughter.
Sacrifice.
That was my first experience with one of my children’s teachers going way beyond their job description. It wasn’t my last and I can bet that there will be many more.
A few weeks ago two of my teenaged daughter’s teachers picked her up at our house and took her to lunch just so that they could spend time with her. It’s their summer break for crying out loud! They actually chose to spend their time off with a student, a student that hasn’t been in their class in 4 years. They were simply reminding her how much she is loved.
Dedication above and beyond.
When the triplets were in 1st grade our autistic daughter was going to have a substitute for the day and it made me panic. I told the P.E. teacher how worried I was that Justin was going to have a hard day. About lunch time I received a text from her that read “Just checked on Justin and she is all good!”.
This woman was in the middle of her work day but stopped to make sure my daughter was okay and to send me a word of comfort.
Comforting.
I was in the middle of getting my tires changed at the worst place on earth and my blood was already boiling. When my phone rang and I saw that it was my daughter’s teacher my heart sank. She calmly explained to me that my autistic daughter was having an epic melt down in the hallway at school. She said that she had never seen my daughter this way. She went on to tell me that the principal came out of his office, sat down next to Justin and asked her if she needed a hug. This wonderful man sat on the floor with my daughter and hugged her until she was okay.
Unmeasured compassion.
During another melt down in her classroom Justin’s teacher got on the floor with her, wrapped her arms around her and sweetly talked her down. The entire time this was going on she had 20 other students in the room to contain but that did not prevent her from comforting my child. She managed to continue to teach and focus on all of the students in her class and still make sure the singled out little girl felt safe.
Sincere Love.
Every year in April I have a Stella & Dot fundraiser to benefit our local autism foundation. These women are the first ones to show up and the last ones to leave. They all bring their checkbooks and do not hesitate to spend their extremely hard-earned dollars to help this cause that is so dear to our family. I think we all know that they are not paid enough and I can assume that they are on a budget but that never stops them on this day. I then see the beautiful autism bracelet adorn each of their wrists for the rest of the year.
Amazing Support.
