As a teacher, I can honestly say that each and every day is different.  The plans are set, materials are prepped, but things don't always go the way you want them too.  This year I have 26 amazing, endearing, occasionally frustrating, gorgeous miracles that I get to come in contact with five days a week.  There are days that I feel so motivated, inspired, and moved by the things that happen in my classroom.  Then there are days where I wish there was a wine bar in the teacher's lounge.  But every so often there is a day that moves me to tears, makes me swell with pride, and on these days I can feel my heart grow 100 times bigger.  Yesterday was one of those days.

"A" came to my class four years ago.  He was able to speak a total of five words.  It would be remiss of me to go into any further detail, but the stories I could tell you about him would break your heart.  He had a long way to go academically, but had the sweetest and biggest heart on the planet.  He spent two years in my kindergarten classroom.  Two years of growth, of heartache, of success, of determination, and most of all, of hard work.  Two years of worming his way into my heart forever too.  I reluctantly gave him away to first grade but knowing he was moving on to someone that would love him, teach him, and inspire him made that easier.  Now he's a big second grader.  He's with an amazing teacher who also happens to have a huge heart.  Yesterday she sent A down to my classroom to read to me.  It sounds so simple, but if you knew the path this kiddo had taken to get to this point you would understand the magnitude of this event.  My teaching assistant and I both stopped what we were doing and listened to him read.  My kindergartners stopped their activities and listened in too.  And read he did.  He read with voice, he read with purpose, and he read like any other second grader would read.  It was one of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard.  And I cried.  My assistant and I both gave him the biggest hugs and told him that we were so proud of him.  And I cried.

I am crying now as I think about that moment.  The kids in my classes smile and nod each year when I tell them that they are forever my babies.  They don't understand that it's the truth.  They are forever in my hearts and I live for each milestone I get to see them reach.  It's moments like yesterday that help me remember why I do what I do.  And remind me why I absolutely love it.