"Still Here......"

Returning to work in an Elementary Special-Ed unit has certainly kept me busy the last few days, trying to mesh the daily schedules for five children in three different grade levels, each attached to a separate home room and only three of us to escort them to and fro, a bit of a challenge. This past Wednesday the church school, a week behind the county facilities as usual, opened its doors and my daughter dropped off my three grandkids with mixed emotions. She drove down to our house afterwards and spoke to me with a tear in her eye, the last year a long, hard walk for all of us and such anxiety now, even after the trial, not lost on me. The moment has remained with me, several attempts to express my thoughts here being deleted. It suffices to say that my mind just hasn’t been all that clear, at least to the point that I was satisfied with where I kept going; but, at the same time, life has not been lived under a cloud. There are four boys and one girl assigned to us and, as noted, it’s been a bit of a shuffle thus far. On Monday, my main charge, who has an occasional mild anger problem, needed to leave his Math class and walk with me to an isolated area where the two of us could work by ourselves. Seated at a table and leaning over his paper, a pencil in his hand as he tackled a work sheet, he turned to me and almost whispered “Be vehrwee quiet!” He wasn’t “hunting wabbits”, so I’m not sure where the line came from. It reminded me of the Fourth Grader who was my introduction to this job. That fellow would often, in the middle of whatever he was doing, be singing the theme song for Barney, and then the next break into a rendition of “When they begin the beguine… In spite of everything, God keeps me amused. Add a great Bible study the other evening and me learning today that this young male teacher whom I am assisting is an avid reader of Christian literature (he and his wife both involved in Catholic lay ministry), what you’ve got is an old man who is thankful for His blessings. It sure beats just sitting here and slowly rotting on the vine…..