an adolescent shower and a blessing

When Jason came to live with us, my fellow 5th grade teachers sneakily got to emailing and planning, and a week later, this was in my hand:

Yup :) They threw me an adolescent shower. We held it one afternoon after our meetings, and something happened there that deserves to be told.


First of all, they are so sweet for throwing me this thing. I think they understand how it can be hard to have a pre-teen come live with you, and hard for him to adjust, and hard as a parent to not be able to give him everything you want. We're tight on money and still in school, and it's really hard for me to not be home when he gets back from school, and not have the money to do things he'd really love, like put him on a basketball team.


So my teaching team gave me the sweetest things. Chocolate and bath salts to pamper myself, advice on keeping my relationship with Sam strong, and so much yummy food to take home with me.

 

And just when I thought it was done and I was so grateful for an amazing shower - they started bringing out presents for Jason.


You guys, they organized a clothing drive, and people who I had never met, who don't even know Jason, donated things. I started crying as they brought out bag after bag of clothes, $100 in gift certificates, packages of new socks and underwear, brand new shoes, deodorant and shampoo, and a myriad of other things he needed. There were so many things donated, and I'm still trying to get over the goodness of strangers in this world. My team just said, "people know this can be hard and they wanted to help."


Things are just things, and money is just money, and I know they don't solve problems. But they make Jason feel valued and much more comfortable, and it's one less thing we have to worry about providing for. I can't say how much the kindness and generosity of strangers and my team meant to me that day.


Here's {just a part - maybe half?} of everything we got. There were swimsuits and snow pants and Sunday shoes and sweatshirts.

Thank you Rachelle, Natalie, Effie, Nina, Kerri, and Emily! Special thanks to Natalie for organizing the clothing drive. I only hope one day I can find a way to tell you how much it means to me.

There are angels among us.