Meet the Parents...

So I have to admit that after a much needed relaxing weekend, I'm finally starting to feel like myself again. I've started to realize that I may never make sense of what happened with Adrian or what had become of the person I once knew. While I may not know these things, I can imagine what the Adrian I knew would have told me at a time like this. I imagine he would say, "Coach, sometimes you just have to F'ing go and do it." So with this in mind I prepared for Monday and my first ever 'Back to School' night. Let's go and do it...

Back to school night may be better known to many of you as Open House. Parents come in, shake hands, slap backs and tell you who their kid is. Then we as teachers try to think of something positive to say about their student. Usually this isn't especially hard as I like my kids... no really I do.

So as parents come strolling in I get to shake their hands and they tell me things like "I couldn't wait to come and meet my son's favorite teacher." or "Well I had to come and see what the 'cool class' was all about." And seriously folks I'm not trying to brag here. As I write this and start to internalize for the first time how complimentary the parents were of me, tears are literally welling up. My cup runneth over...

So many teachers told me, including my own mom, that you can't smile before Christmas. You have to show them who's boss or they'll run you over. I've addressed my feelings on this in another blog so I won't go into it here. But tonight, for the first time, I really felt vindicated in my opinions on how I treat kids. Parents were over joyed that I respected their students, that I let them talk, that I didn't assign needless homework, that I look forward to seeing them everyday. They, one class after the next, told me that I was their son or daughter's favorite teacher and in some cases, I didn't even think their kid liked me. It truly was an overwhelming night to realize that I'm actually connecting with the kids. God help me to never take it for granted.

And so I'm just F'ing doing it. One day at a time, and maybe just maybe making a difference in some kids life. Thanks for letting me share it with you.