Can't wait to lose this jewelry

One of the sorrows, but also the privileges, of being a high school teacher, is sharing in your students' sorrows. Especially in a small school community, and when it is a good school (as CD was!), the family that is formed shares the good and the bad. Entirely aside from our school closing, this has been a bad, BAD year.

There are the normal bad things that happen- injuries and illnesses, sudden deaths in the family. Then there are the extraordinary ones, which seem to just keep on coming in recent months. Since the winter, we have had two former students become quadraplegics, one through an accident, the other as a result of a drive-by shooting. Months ago a young graduate was diagnosed with cancer and we have watched her fight. Now we learn that one of the kids who graduated only weeks ago is also fighting for his life with a newly diagnosed cancer.

I've been wearing purple toenail polish since the spring as a daily reminder to prayer for the young girl who is in rehab to learn to live without the use of her legs and hands. As soon as it arrives, I will be adding the ankle bracelet pictured above to remind me about the young man with lymphoma. I hope I don't wear it for very long due to a quick recovery for him.

In the process of thinking about them, and praying for them, I hope we all also recognize the fragility of our own lives, and the need to live each day in the best way we can. Finding our joy and sharing our love is something we should never skip over or miss out on.