This will be an interesting week for my family as we are hosting a student who is staying with us. Helena will be a freshman and has been a student that I’ve taken care of academically this past school year. Her family and mine have become close and I agreed to take her for a week while her family attends to other business. Isn’t it like me to always take people into my home? YES. The answer is yes in case you didn’t know. Last summer we had two college students living in our basement while they worked at the softball stadium. If you recall, last summer my mom was also still living with us as well as my sons so we had a full house. It’s like we have a revolving door on our home but we like to welcome people to stay with us for whatever reason.
This has been a long time tradition, too. When I first started teaching I was married with three small children and I was in my third year of teaching middle school. I was green enough in the business to still be naive and think I could, oh, you know change the entire world with my job as a teacher. One of my 8th graders that year, Kristie, came to school on a Monday looking rather haggard. At the time, I thought she just stayed up too late the night before. She came from a good family and lived in a nice section of town and I mistakenly believed that everything was alright. She couldn’t stay awake in class so when it came time for lunch I sent everyone else to the cafeteria and asked her what was wrong. I’m not sure if I really expected her answer or if I anticipated what my response to it would be. That weekend she had run away from home and slept on the streets because she had no where to go.
Before I had time to think about it, I told her that I didn’t want her to ever do that again and that she was to call me if she felt unsafe and had no place to be safe.
Guess how long it took her to take me up on it? One week. I went from having three kids under ten years old in my house to taking in a student who ended up living with us for several months.
I come by this thing (affliction?) honestly. I guess I just can’t see people without a place to go. Why I wasn’t blessed with being a millionaire so that I could open some type of halfway house and still keep my day job is beyond me. The question I posed on my last post to win a copy of Money Can’t Buy Love by Connie Briscoe is one that I, too, have thought about. Not that I don’t want for things because I do, but I would probably just create a life where I could help people more than I’m currently able. Maybe a huge house with lots of rooms to take in the strays that I so love. Of course, The Cuban would cook for them and we’d have Wii Just Dance parties and a pool and a lovely vegetable garden. Oh, and some chickens and cows. When did I become such a country girl?
All that was to say that I have just asked Helena to pick my winner, so congratulations Kat! I’ll be contacting you by mail so I can get your information so that TLC Book Tours can send you your copy of Connie’s book.
In the meantime, I have another teenager in the house. You’ll excuse me if I’m a bit distracted. (Because, like now, she is totally trying to get me to watch the movie Jeepers Creepers. Seriously.) (I will, in turn, force her to brush her teeth.)
A friend of mine has this posted in her kids’ bathroom on a chalkboard. The exclamation point is NECESSARY.
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I like the chalkboard idea. Now if only I could adapt it to Braille so my blind 19yo would read it….
how about brailie letters on a lite brite? Would the grid size be too large to be readable?
Of course, having a legible note does nothing for the teenage problem of ignoring all input from mom.
You’re good people, Kelly. Proud to know you.
Kelly, isn’t this what its all about? At least, it is in my book. Now that the kids are out of the house, I have a finished basement with bedrooms just lying in anticipation of a need. Like the story of the fishes and the loaves, I find empty cupboards produce enough to feed an unexpected guest, there is enough room to sleep one or a dozen, and a hand held out to help another ends up holding us both/all up. And when it happens, my heart dances with joy.