Justin’s first year in school her principal, teacher and special education teacher made a trip to our house after school hours. They brought cookies and a book. They wanted Justin to see them as people outside of the school and wanted Justin to be able to show them her world at home. I mean really, who does that?
I don’t know if my family has just been blessed with the best teachers in the entire world or if all teachers stretch themselves far beyond what is expected.
Every one of their teachers past and present is included in our prayers. My children are in love with these angels in their lives.
Myleigh cried all night the day her teacher went into labor because she was so worried about her and her baby.
Myleigh tells us all the time that her teacher can’t stop smiling and how much she loves her because of it.
Stiles 5th grade teacher still has a framed picture of her in her classroom and Stiles has the same one framed in her room. Stiles is now in 9th grade.
Bella’s teacher honored her at a PTA meeting for being an outstanding student in the community.
These women are paid to teach my children academics. They are paid to administer tests. They are paid to teach reading , writing, history and whatever else goes on at school that I don’t have the ability to teach at home.
They are not paid to show up at my house and spend their hard-earned money on jewelry to show support to my autistic daughter.
They are not paid to catch my daughters vomit in their hands.
They are not paid to sacrifice one of their summer days to take my teenager to lunch and show her unending support.
They are not paid to sit on the floor and rock my child during a melt down.
They are not paid to create amazing special education tools for me to take home in an effort to make my daughter’s life easier.
They are not paid to show up to a snow cone place late at night with their family to support my daughters homeless ministry.
I don’t think teachers know what they’re doing.
They don’t know that they are building the confidence of my teenager as she enters the dreaded high school years.
They don’t know that they are showing my family what it means for a community to gather together and support each other.
They don’t know that they are loving on a child so much that she lays in bed at night and cries because her heart is so entwined with her teachers.
They don’t know that there’s a little girl out there determined to name her son William because that’s what her favorite teacher did.
They don’t know that a little girl cries out their name to her parents when she is scared and needs to be comforted.
I don’t think teachers know what they’re doing.
My my family is in the process of moving to our new home. I took all of the pictures off of the triplets walls and left them bare. This morning I went in to wake them and found a picture of Justin and her teacher stuck to the wall where the other pictures used to hang. I told her that we were packing and that we had to take stuff off of the walls. She replied “I know, but that’s me and Miss Cooper.”
The picture will be the last thing to leave our old home and makes it way to our new one.
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This article originally appeared at Women With Worth.
