Thursday, January 31, 2008

A Hug a Day...

This morning during homeroom, before announcements even, 6th grade Kelly suddenly appears at my door, chest heaving from running, eyes filled with tears. Nearly hyperventilating, she cries, "I fell asleep on the bus!" So what? I thought. You're here now. What's the drama about? She continued, "My brother forgot to wake me up!"

Oh....I get it; Kelly and big brother John ride the bus to school together. He stops in my room on his way to homeroom, and she wants to chew him out for forgetting to wake her up and leaving her on the bus when they arrived to school. Escalating to a wail, Kelly bawls, "I didn't get to say good byyye!! We always say good byyyye!!!" Her eyes are threatening to spill; I guess this is deeper than I thought. What a way to start the day; poor kid.

"I know where his homeroom is," I assure her. "We'll go find him." So we hurry to the 8th grade hallway, Kelly clomping behind me in her snowboots, her hair as messy as her emotions. We arrive at John's homeroom, where we find him quickly and I beckon him to the door. He looks puzzled to see me, notices his sister, and scowls a little.

"I didn't get to say goodbye!" Kelly says, and throws her arms around him in a quick embrace, before he can react. He stands motionless, allowing the affectionate assault as if thinking, "There's no use fighting it." Immediately satisfied, Kelly does an about-face and clomps out the door, on a mission to get to her own homeroom.

Sometimes a hug is all you need.

3 comments:

  1. That made me cry! It's been a bad day for me...how sweet is that? Thank you for not being to busy to take her to find her brother! I talked to my brother on the phone last night he is in the military and is 10,000 miles away from his family, and well a hug would of been good yaknow?

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  2. Princess: Good! Always glad to bring a smile to someone's day.

    JAX-I've been wondering where you've been! I hope you're doing okay. As for Kelly, the way I see it, it's was lot easier to just find her brother than try to reason with her; she is what she is...:) That little stinker!

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