Image Map

Saturday, May 1, 2010

It's a Hard Knock Life

     There is a little girl in my class who is teeny tiny and has one of those pretty, old-fashioned, full names that I just love.  It is classic and vintage just the way I like it, but I do not care much for the fact that she is not very well taken care of.  Dirty shoes, small clothes, tangled hair and shaggy too-long-bangs that itch her eyes when she reads.  And no one at home cares to cut them.  


     So this year, I was bold enough to buy her a hair brush and a set of colored plastic barrettes and every morning, I quietly call her back to my desk.  We talk about dogs and breakfast foods and recess and the weather while I run a brush through her hair and clip back her monstrous bangs.  
     
     If things keep going the way they've been going, she is going to have a very hard life, but it is my prayer every single day that when she is older, she can look back at The Year She Turned 8 and  know that there once was an adult who drank too much coffee and wore sparkly shoes and loved her as if she was her own.  
   

Love, H.                                                    (joytotheblog.blogspot.com) 


3 comments:

carmen @ life blessons said...

Oh, Holly. You are an angel. She is one very blessed little girl to have as good a teacher as you!! It reminds me of our call to care for the "least of these" and you do it so beautifully :) This is what it's all about!

Shelly said...

Aww, cousin, you brought tears to my eyes! My mom swam five or six days a week for years and years. She once told me that she used each lap she swam to pray for one kid in her class (in roll-call order so she wouldn't forget). She said she wanted to make sure that at least for the ONE year they were in her class someone prayed for them every day. You will truly, truly make an impact on this little girl's life that will not be forgotten.

Kitty Smitty said...

Holls, this totally made me cry. I'm so happy that little girl has you as a teacher :)