Heartbroken

I love all the kids I teach. I love the ones who misbehave, the ones who never study. I love the ones who are over-achievers, the ones who have no place to live, the ones who live in mansions and dress to the nines, and the ones who break dress code. I love the ones who work my last nerve, the ones who do everything right, and all the ones in between. I love the short ones, tall ones, graceful ones, uncoordinated ones, bookworms, the ones who have an inch of dust on their textbooks, and the ones who don't know where their textbooks are at all. I love the musical ones, the ones who can dance, the ones who can make me laugh, the ones who make me cry, the ones who play sports, the ones who cheer, the ones who draw, the ones who write, and the ones who brood in the corner from so much teenage angst they drip with it.

   And that's why it breaks my heart when one is absolutely convinced that I hate him or her. I try every day to show all of my kids I care. I know I'm not perfect, and I don't claim to be the teacher-of-the-year, but I try. I try very hard. I try very hard not to show favoritism to students. It's very hard sometimes when some students are very open and outgoing and you know every detail of their lives and some never so much as utter a hello to you, but I try to make them all feel special, because they are.

  I would never want my students to feel that I like someone more, that I care more about someone else's day, or that I would prefer another to out-perform, or succeed more than them.

But today, one does. And so I am heartbroken. And I hope, that by the grace of God, and the wisdom and sensitivity He provides me through this situation, that she will know, and she will feel, that she is loved by many... and one of them, one of her biggest fans... is me.