Courage is contagious....

For 6 years, I have watched our now 9 year old son, battle cancer.

First, neuroblastoma with 30% odds for 5 year survival, then a relapse with a less than 10% chance of five year survival (of which is 3 years and 2 months into and still in remission) and now secondary leukemia caused by the treatments he has had to save his life. Our teams in Philly and KC have never known a child who has survived this particular type of MDS after neuroblastoma. 

Not one.

We have been faced with more decisions about which path to walk down for treatment, or no treatment, more times than I can count. 

More life/death decision than I care to remember. 

Seriously, you have to choose whether to fight for your child's life or resign from attacking cancer and appreciate the time you have left.

Not an easy choice to make.

We have always followed Braden's lead. He has never, once waivered in his fight. 

Braden has autism so he can't tell us with his words, but he shows us. 

He wakes up happy and joyful every day, and he is silly even the cruddy days that he feels horrible because of his treatments. 

His bad days are still full of life, gratitude, and love.

He just wants to play and be with his family and friends. He loves everyone he meets, accepts them, appreciates them, and wants to play with them.

That's an attitude we should all adopt.

Braden doesn't know life isn't supposed to be filled with pokes, poison, cores of your bone marrow being drilled out repeatedly, medicines, and managing the side effects of treatment.

So he just appreciates what he has, even if it isn't what most of us would consider to be "normal" or good.

And he is HAPPY about it!

As we sit in the hospital for a bone marrow transplant and he is getting high dose chemotherapy to kill all of his bone marrow so he can accept his perfectly matched ten year old brother's bone marrow, he remains happy and joyful...and he wants to play...

...basketball.

We have a hoop in the room and he seriously plays for hours a day.

He flirts with the nurses and has won them over. Just this morning, he was winking and smiling at his nurse and told her, "Hey you...I'm flirting!" :)

Yesterday morning, the first words out of his mouth when the nurse walked in were, "It sure is a lovely day today!"

Seriously, who does that while getting high dose chemo and feeling yucky?

I would be in the fetal position in a corner sucking my thumb crying.

Not Braden.

But what I didn't realize was how much courage is contagious.

Braden is like King Arthur and the land...as Braden goes, so go those around him...

especially mom.

I understand how horrible his odds are, 

I understand how impacted his body might be, if he survives,

I understand how it could change this quality of his life because we made the decision to fight,

I understand fear...

and worry.

I understand the bad stuff that he is blessed to not understand. 

But because Braden is brave, so am I.

His strength fuels my strength.

His will fuels my will.

His fight fuels my fight.

His HOPE fuels my HOPE!

And on this, the last day of his conditioning chemo, we will play basketball while he stops in between shots to double over in pain...

and then continues.

And I won't cry.

I will cheer, and clap for him. 

I will smile,

and have the courage to fight too.

God has this and our job is to remain courageous and trust.

cancer is not bigger than God,

and it is NOT bigger than Braden Hofen,

so I'm going to follow his lead and remain courageous...

thanks for sharing that inspirational gift my sweet Prince.

Mommy loves you!

Faith...

Most of us have had to make choices that are very difficult.

Some of us have had to make choices that were impossible.

We have one of those impossible choices to make right now.

Braden's secondary cancer (mds leukemia) that was caused by the harsh treatments he endured to beat his first cancer (neuroblastoma) is going to kill him if we don't do a bone marrow transplant...and that could kill him. And if the transplant works and rids his body of the mds, his immune system that may be responsible for keeping any dormant neuroblastoma cells quiet may then allow the neuroblastoma to come back. And that would kill him. 

It's a choice in which, like so many parents of children with cancer, we have to make an impossible decision about life and death.  

Does he die after he's had the most amount of good quality time without further risky treatments, or do we risk things and hope to not kill him, shorten his life, or take away the quality of the time he has left with the risky treatments by fighting for a cure...

This beautiful,vibrant, happy boy.

We have been fighting this mds since he was diagnosed on July 8 and we were told that he had only several weeks to a few months to live. We had to make the choice to either do nothing and let him die then or try a chemotherapy that we inject into him at home for seven days, two to three shots a day every three weeks.

Every time we have been told Braden was going to die, we have take the option that gives him a chance to live. 

And we have faith that God will be there for us no matter what the result of the treatment.

Now we have to do something different for his mds. We have known this path isn't curative and would only buy us time and now we see signs that we need to proceed with transplant if Braden is going survive.

We have chosen the only path for treating his mds that allows him even a small chance of beating it all and surviving.  Braden will have a bone marrow transplant and we will hope that he survives it, it kills all the leukemia, his donor cells engraft, and the neuroblastoma stays quiet.

Imagine being at the top of a jagged cliff and knowing you are going to die very soon if you don't jump and take a chance at surviving.  You know that whatever way you jump, there are rocks surrounding you that are not going to give a safe landing.  There are just a few green, softer spots (and even those softer spots aren't particularly appealing). 

But WE are not going to jump.  

We have to throw our child off that cliff...

and we can't make the jump with him. 

We have to hope our aim somehow lands him in the exact right place at the exact right time so he will recover and survive. 

We know no matter what, he will not land unscathed, it's a matter of trying to choose the spot that will do the least amount of harm and give the most hope for recovery and survival.

We know transplant will cause harm and will have side effects that will last the rest of his life. We don't know how devastating and debilitating those side effects are going to be though. 

That is a lot to wrestle with in your heart and mind.

Imagine, for a minute, throwing your child off that cliff hoping to do the least amount of harm while giving him a chance.

Imagine being forced to make a choice like that with your child.

It sucks as much as you are thinking, especially when it's not a hypothetical question.

We can only hope, trust...

and have I have unending FAITH that God is there and will give us the right answer to our prayers...

even if it's not the answer we want.

That is a very hard thing to do.

God gives me peace and my hope, my faith and my trust are bigger than that jagged cliff. 

My God is greater than that cliff and His love surpasses all the danger and fear.

We are fighting like crazy to keep Braden here with us. Make no mistake...we are NOT ready to let him go!

I've held on to my faith since his terminal prognosis in July. And this past week, we learned some very unexpected news that made that teeny tiny glimmer of hope we have held onto just a little brighter.

The doctors told us that Braden is in a very unique situation and he has a few things going for him.  

And the words "a few things going for him" were unexpected and glorious to hear . 

First, his neuroblastoma has been in a second remission for three years. That is nearly unheard of with relapsing neuroblastoma.

Secondly, his mds is currently only affecting about 2% of his cells and because that is fewer cells to have to kill and it has responded to therapy. He began at about 20% of his cells so the chemo has been working. It is encouraging this the cancer responded to the chemo and it's better that he has less disease to fight with transplant.

Third, after 6 years of continuous cancer treatment, Braden's organ function is good. That's pretty amazing. He has a few treatment induced health issues but his organs are functioning in acceptable ways.

Then there's a huge positive. Braden has one and only one bone marrow match in the registry. And his bone marrow match is his ten year old brother, Zach.

That gives him a "related bone marrow donor". And it's a huge advantage.

There are multiple benefits to having a bone marrow donor that is a sibling, simply put it can make the engraftment process easier and cause less complications and side effects.

It only happens 25% of the time that a sibling is the match for a patient.

And on Friday, we learned that Zach is a FULL MATCH for Braden...and that is really good news.

Zach is excited to try to save his brother's life.

And we are blessed to have a ten year old who is brave enough to try. It may not work, his cells may not engraft and even if they do the rate for relapse of mds post transplant is extremely high, but knowing all of that, Zach is willing to try.

Zach is a pretty awesome kid!

So while we are standing on that cliff with really crappy choices to make, we have some new hope...

....all thanks to faith that God will guide Braden to a softer green spot on that jagged cliff.

Please hope with us and believe all things are possible!

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” 

--Corrie ten Boom

To Infinity and Beyond...

In September, our school sent out this "Save The Date"...

I taped it to the back door along with Zach's fifth grade musical save the date.  I knew it was either going to be a very happy day on March 4 or a sad one. We thought Braden had only a few months left to live in September and March was a REALLY long time from then.

March 4 was going to be a day that Braden would be here to see...

or not.

I almost didn't put it up because I didn't want to risk that he would be an angel and I would have this stupid sign to take down as yet another reminder he was not here.

And while we are heading to transplant soon, tomorrow is his musical and he is going to be there.

TAKE THAT cANCER!!!

He gets to dress up as his favorite character from a movie...

and he chose Buzz Lightyear.

Ordinarily, I would have said no because I didn't want to buy a costume, but this musical is special, so I ordered a Buzz costume.

I think he looks pretty cute. :)

And he is really good at shouting, "TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!"

No, that's not part of the musical ;) but he's pretty darn cute when he wears it.



We also got his hair cut today and that was a tough moment because it will likely be his last haircut while he is 9 years old.

Once in transplant, he will lose his hair and then it will have to grow back.









IF we are super lucky, he might grow those beautiful curls back that he's gotten each time it's grown back from chemo. I LOVE the curls...

Even if Brian says it makes him look like a girl. :)

They are so sweet...





He even wore his Hulk costume for his haircut and showed the lady his "muscles" and gave her his best "Hulk SMASH!" impression. It was pretty precious!

Zach was very insistent that Braden should not wear his costume to the salon because it would be "embarassing" (he's going to middle school next year so he's preparing for that life change and more things are now "embarrassing".

Sigh...

But even Zach had to admit he was cute! :)

Tomorrow morning, my sweet baby boy walks out the door and goes to school for his musical performance and THAT is a victory.

cANCER gets too much time and too many memories from people who have it.

But, that's sort of the point...Braden has cANCER, cANCER doesn't have HIM...

and tomorrow we get another "W" in our column.

This 9 year old is kicking cancer's ass even though it keeps picking new battles.

And Braden is going to keep winning...

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND...

TAKE THAT cANCER!

Trust....

A dear friend sent me a story several years ago about trust being similar to riding a tandem bike with God. He is steering the bike and we are on the back pedaling to keep the bike moving forward.  We have to trust that wherever God steers us is the place we are supposed to go, and we ought to enjoy the view along the way because He's "got" it.

Easy to say; hard to put into action.

I am a control freak and I leave little to chance...I am a "driver" not a "peddle pusher".

It requires trust to be able to peddle, and not steer. And that is not my strength.

Many people have told me "God only gives us what we can handle so he must really trust you" or "God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers so God is showing you His trust".

I also hear people say they believe that God gives us trials so we can give ourselves completely to His will and trust Him with all of our heart.  He gives us these trials and hard times to teach us to come to His open arms to seek comfort and to trust in Him.

While all of these statements/ideas are supposed to be comforting and supportive, they are not.

What I hear in these messages is that some believe that God is giving us horrible things to test our faith and to give us the opportunity to trust Him completely. And that hurts my heart.

I just don't think it works that way with God.

(Perhaps it works that way with some humans, but not God)

When Braden was first diagnosed, I thought God had abandoned me. I assumed I was being punished or He was angry with me.

But, when I stepped onto the oncology floor for the first time and I looked into the eyes of the children battling cancer, I immediately knew that this was not something that God was responsible for...

...the God I believe in is loving,  kind and forgiving. NOT the giver of pain and suffering.

I think that's the "other guy's" specialty.

I had peace in my heart at that moment, and I have carried that peace with me ever since but my trust in God is often tested. This week has been a particularly tough one.

I started writing this blog while one of our sweet teenage friends was dying with Ewings Sarcoma.  Kori is now forever 18 and she was a fighter, a true fighter, with a heart as big as the entire universe.  She is a beautiful soul and she lives on here on Earth in so many ways,

but her parents can't hold her anymore.

They can't hug her, touch her, comfort her, and dream of her future.  Those things are lost and writing a blog about trust while holding that on your heart was tough for me to do, so I stopped and didn't finish writing it.

In the meantime, we were waiting for the results of a bone marrow biopsy for Braden and I didn't have a good feeling about what these results would say.  Angel whispers were telling me to be concerned.  His counts had been progressively getting lower and I was worried it was a sign of disease in his bone marrow making it hard for it to make healthy cells to grow.

Then there was the non-scientific sign. When Braden was in treatment, he needed me to be right beside him every minute with me touching him all the time.  I couldn't even get up to go to the bathroom without having a nurse sit with him while I hurried as fast as I could because he was crying out for me.

Every time, something has been going on with Braden and his cANCER has been progressing, Braden has needed to be touching me all night long while he sleeps.  And his arms, hand, or foot had been on me all night long for awhile.

I knew....I just knew his treatment induced leukemia was progressing. I couldn't even say it or make eye contact with those that asked me what my gut was telling me about the results.

We got the results of the biopsy and they were not what we wanted to hear. The treatment induced leukemia is progressing again.

Once again, his cancer cells had found a way to outsmart the chemotherapy we have been giving him to keep them quiet...and kill them.

Now he has to go into transplant which is terrifying. This marks the beginning of something, it will either result in his death or cure. The hospital teams we work with have never seen a child survive for 5 years after treatment induced mds following neuroblastoma.

Never.

They are leaders in the field and they have never seen it.

And I am not ready to go into transplant and start what the doctors believe is the beginning of saying goodbye to our son.

Each time I have been able to post something positive about Braden's cancer results, I often hear "God is Good!" in celebration.

Yes, He is.

But, He is good all the time.

Trust is knowing that He is good, kind, loving, and our grace and salvation even when the answer is not what we want it to be.  Period!

Trust is knowing that if the answer to our prayers is not what we asked for, or hoped for, or wanted, it is still the right answer.

When I don't receive the answer that I want, it doesn't mean my prayers weren't answered!

God knows and sees things that I cannot and he steers the bike accordingly.  I am called to trust Him to guide us to the right answer, not to my hope.

It's like when I prayed that God would take care of our daughter Miranda and keep her safe and comfortable even if I had to say goodbye to her because I wanted her to not be in pain because of my wish to keep her here. A few hours later, Miranda was with Him in Heaven and not on Earth suffering. Watching Miranda die in my arms was the hardest thing I have ever done, but it doesn't mean our prayers were not answered.

God saved her, just not the way I wanted her to be saved.  But it doesn't mean my prayers weren't answered and that He didn't wrap His loving arms around her and save her from evil.

Sometimes parents have to say no even when it hurts because they know more than their children about how things work. I think it's that way with God, but we can be spoiled brats because we want what we want when we want it. And I really wanted Miranda to be with us and I really want Braden to be with us.

I didn't get what I wanted with Miranda, and I may not get what I want with Braden and that crushes my soul completely. The sadness and fear I feel as a result of losing Miranda and possibly losing Braden is more than I could ever describe. It frightens and saddens me to the depths of my being.

But...I must trust God to save him just as I trusted God to save Miranda....no matter what the answer is.

God is in the business of loving and caring for us.  He loves Braden even more than we do, which is hard to imagine because we love him with every ounce of us.

He will save him whether it is on Earth or in Heaven, but for the record,  I'm going to fight like with everything I have to make his cure occur while on Earth. God gave us minds and free will to do something with them, and those two things are the reason he has remained with us for 6 years.

We aren't stopping now.

We have a glimmer of hope...it's just enough to give us the courage we need to fight.

When I went to bed on Valentines Day, the day we got the news the leukemia was progressing, I couldn't sleep so I did what I often do when I just need to hear from God. I closed my eyes, opened my bible, pointed to a spot on the page and then read.

And this is what I found:

     "Look to the Lord and strength
Seek his face always.

     Remember the wonders He has done
His miracles and the judgments he pronounced."
                                                       Psalm 105

I trust. And I know that God is bigger than cANCER.

TAKE THAT cANCER!

What's For Dinner....

I'm going to lose my membership card in the "Girl's Club" for this post because at our last secret meeting (at the pub), we all agreed that we would keep this information top secret.

But I'm risking it...for one and only one reason...

to be clear and to try to help men everywhere live happy, healthy lives...

with no ambiguity.

I know sometimes men think women talk in code and we have secret messages behind our words.  Today, I offer clarity on one little issue, asking your significant other to bring dinner home.

First, the background info you need from which to frame this whole scenario.  Part of what I do each day is plan and prepare meals for my family.

And didn't used to like cooking but now I love to cook. I watch Food Network every chance I get...

which we all know makes you a real chef.

I have also taken a few cooking classes at a culinary institute and as a result....

I even get my knives professionally sharpened now....so it's pretty obvious that I'm "the real deal".

Okay, I admit it, I'm no "chef"...

not everything I make is even edible, and I often take the culinary path of least resistance, but I do enjoy cooking and it usually takes a good chunk of time.

Every day.

I shop for the groceries, chop everything, cook the food, serve it and then clean up the kitchen and do the dishes.

Oh the horror! POOOR OVERWORKED ME!  ;)

Actually, I like doing it.  It's "normal" and a stable, predictable, behavior that I yearned to do while spending months in the hospital and unable to do "everyday" things like this. Having the chance to be at home to do this is a gift.

And I think it's fun!

Shhhh....don't tell the hubby that part because that takes away a lot of currency I can cash in later for things like fixing broken stuff around the house.

But there is one part of the job that I do NOT enjoy and that is figuring out what we are going to have for dinner each night.

UGHHHH!!!

In order to be a meal planning whiz kid, you have to consider many factors...

like how many nights this week have we had "Taco Tuesday?"

And are there any frozen pizzas left?

It's so exhausting I often need a glass of wine after I'm finished with the event because I have pushed myself to my physical, emotional, and mental limits...

(sangria is good too).

But there are some days that I'm just tired of shopping, chopping, cooking, serving, and cleaning up.

And on those days, I call Brian and ask him if he will stop at a restaurant or drive thru and bring dinner home.

He always obliges and says "sure". He's always willing to bring something home...no judgment about me not cooking or being upset about having to make a stop.

But....he always asks the one question that he should not ask...

"what do you want me to bring home?"

My answer is always the same,

"I don't care, you pick."

To which he inevitably sighs...

So I sigh too...

...louder.

Then we begin the "discussion" of what he can bring home with me continuing to say, slower each time...

"I don't care what you bring home!"

I'm pretty sure he thinks that either I'm trying to trick him and there's some catch, or that it is part of the "Woman Code" and he's supposed to keep asking me to get me to crack and tell him what the code really means.

So in an attempt to be perfectly clear and avoid any more sighs and discussions about what to bring home for dinner after I say, "I don't care" four million times,  I am going to be completely transparent and reveal the woman code for what those three little words (I don't care) mean when discussing what to bring home for dinner.

Here goes...hold on to your hat and prepare for your mind to be blown with the code translation.

This is BIG stuff!

Nobel Peace Prize Award kind of stuff!

Seriously!

When I call and ask my hubby to bring something home for dinner,

it's because I am tired of cooking and doing dishes...

and figuring out what the hell to have for dinner every meal!!!

SO....when I say, "I don't care what you bring home for dinner", what I'm really trying to say through all the innuendos and indirect messages is...

(GET READY FOR IT....)

"I don't care what you bring home for dinner"...

as long as I don't have to cook, clean and  plan it for one night!

I want a night off...and that night off includes a break from meal planning duty.

I don't want to think about what to have, I don't want to clean it up, I don't want to put the leftovers in the fridge...

Night

O...

F....

F!!

 BOOOOM!!!

(that was the sound of minds around the world being blown as the code was cracked)

Club Sisters...I know I took the oath of secrecy that  I would never decode those words, I have failed you.

It's a good thing I don't work for the CIA.

And as an added code cracking bonus dear significant others,

when you don't even get us a card for Valentines Day and we smile and tell you "it's no big deal, don't worry about it"

as we hand you yours...

The decoded meaning is...

"sleep with one eye open."

BOOM!

(again)

How do you sleep at night...

I don't sleep much and when I do, it's not well.  No parent who has a child with cancer does.

The night before scans or a bone marrow biopsy/aspiration is one of those nights that is extremely difficult to get any rest.

Braden's autism gives us the blessing of him not knowing what he faces the next day. Honestly, that really is a blessing because he doesn't lose any sleep.  

Each time we take him for treatments or procedures that are going to be painful, I feel horrible. 

With that innocence and trust he places in us to keep him safe and happy, it weighs heavily on our hearts that we have to take him to the hospital to allow painful things to be done to him to try to help him survive.

Another thing that every parent of a child faces.

It's tough on the heart...

Braden just had a bone marrow biopsy and aspiration and those are never fun. Most children with cancer have to endure these, some fairly frequently. As of today, Braden has them every three months.

Let me show you what these brave babies go through.

First, this is the child we enter with...full of giggles and laughter and energy...

Braden does not go under full anesthesia. Instead, we do his bone marrow biopsy and aspiration in an exam room in the clinic under "conscious sedation".  Yes, he could be put into a full, deep sleep but when they do that, they have to run a breathing tube and that isn't always good in Braden's world as far as recovery.

He doesn't feel any pain during this conscious sedation, but he is aware that something is happening and he can feel the pressure.

He does not enjoy the experience and once we put on his pulse oxygen monitor, he realizes he is going to have to "lay on his tummy today" he tries very hard to convince us that we don't need to do it.

We also give him some versed which makes it so he doesn't remember what happens during the procedure...

I would like some too. 

I always stay in the room and help hold him down. Yes, he tries to get up and he frequently tell us he wants to go home now....

and that he does NOT want a bandaid.

He is EXTREMELY emphatic about that!

I stay by his head (with his tigers) and put my body weight across his shoulders and kiss him and tell him how brave he is while Dr. Neville goes about the business of the biopsy and aspiration.

The puncture is done with this treat...

See that long, thick needle? It has a core...the top is what you think it is...it's a screw that is twisted and turned into his his/back to create a hole in the bone.

Read that part again...HOLE IN THE BONE....

sounds pleasant doesn't it?

Now, imagine holding your child down while he is telling you he wants to go home...PWEASE MOM while they insert this and screw it through his skin into his bone.

Next, she uses this knife to core out a piece of bone marrow...

I will admit that I never watch the actual process...it's hard to see from my location and I'm focused on keeping him from sitting straight up and keeping him calm.

These are other tools of the trade...

If you are squeamish about needles and medical things, you are probably cringing right now. 

I'm not squeamish, but I cringe at the thought of this being shoved into my baby.

And doing it is not a choice, if we want him to have a chance to live.

And that....is messed up...

way the hell messed up!

He always does a great job and today he loudly said, "NO BANDAID" after Dr. Neville did the aspirate.  So as Dr. Neville put the bandaid on and he once again reminded her "no bandaid", without skipping a beat she told him that "Angela did it", she's our nurse. We all busted out laughing as poor Angela said, "Heyyyyy"! :)

Funny how with all of that tray of torture tools, he is most worried about bandaids...

(but he really does dislike bandaids)

After the procedure, Dr. Neville gave him lots of hugs and snuggles and he started to wake up.

We have to force him to lay down and chill because he tries to get right up and run around.  

He's 100% courage and 0% balance on all of those sedatives.  

This is the face we leave the hospital with...

Once home, we snuggle...

And take silly selfies per his request...

Kids with cANCER are brave....brave beyond the capacity of explanation of the word brave...

Parents of kids with cANCER follow their kids example of bravery...

and that is why I stay in the room while they do this procedure.

That is why I help hold him down...and talk to him...and kiss him...while they jab those horrible long needles and knives into his back and bones...

because I want to be the one there for him when he cries out to go home...

and not have a bandaid.

It's also why I don't sleep at night.

Someday in the future, people will look back at this horrific procedure and its tools and wonder why we ever had to do it that way...

sort of like how we look at leaching now.

I pray for that day...I work for that day...and I HOPE...

"My" kids...

Once upon a time, I was an elementary school teacher.

Then an assistant middle school principal.

Then an elementary school principal.

And finally, a director of human resources....

then I had to leave my career when Braden was diagnosed with cANCER.

The best and hardest career decision I ever made. I loved my career, but my priority is my children and Braden needed me 24/7/365.

I have been privileged to have thousands of "kids" in my life because of my career experiences.  First, with the 20 some in my classroom and then with the hundreds as a principal.

Moving to HR was a tough one for me because I had to leave my kids so I had more hours to take care of my biological children. Principal hours are very long with numerous evenings back at school each week. Braden had 5 evening therapies a night to help with his autism and I simply couldn't do it all.

It was a heartbreaking choice, but I also loved working in HR.  Some of my kids would actually come visit me at our district offices...those were the best days ever!

And...I really think of  them as "my kids".  All 20 something in my classrooms and the hundreds in our school.

They changed made me smile, laugh,

bang my head into the wall....

There was never a dull moment and never a day that was the same as the last. It was challenging and fun and those kids filled my life with joy.

There was never a time that I was in the hallway that I wasn't nearly tackled with hugs and greeted with screams of "MRS HOFEN!"

That wasn't always perfect for teachers who were trying to get their kids to walk quietly in the hallway...

...Oops.

Each and every day my staff and I made it a point to check on my kids that were struggling for one reason or another. Sometimes it was the shy kiddo who had no friends, sometimes the "un-shy" kiddo who was always in trouble...

and as a result, my kids became "my kids".

I wasn't always good at it, there were kids that slipped between my fingers that I wasn't able to reach. I still think about those children (who are now grown ups making their way in the world).

Those were the kids I thought about every night when I got home, I worried about them, I was proud of them, I tried to figure out other ways to help them.

So did my staff.

There were also a lot of fun times. Frequently, I would have a child in the office who was explaining what they had done to get sent to me. I would listen to their explanations and then with a very serious face tell them that I would be right back but in the meantime, they needed to think about what they had done.

I would then step out of my office and into the work room and bust out laughing!!

Kids do and say the funniest things.

Like the time two kindergarten boys decided to go into the bathroom and shut off the light and see if they could hit the toilet in the dark from the furthest wall.

I laughed hardest when I called the one of the dads (who was also ornery) to explain the situation. I couldn't even speak at one point because I was laughing so hard.

I think he said made some reference about Ghost Busters and "streams crossing".

But the five year old "fountain" never knew I thought it was funny. It was tough to hide my grin.

Or the time a first grader decided to cut his bangs with his scissors during class. His teacher sent him to me. I figured the damage was pretty much already done and he had his own consequence of walking around with really short, crooked bangs. SO...

I asked him if he had been to "hair cutter school".  He said no and I told him that he was VERY welcome to cut his own hair anytime, but he needed to go to hair cutter school first.

He shook his head and said okay and happily trotted back to class.

His teacher wasn't quite as amused as I was with my "witty" response. :)  She was good with it later on...after I explained.

I had a student who was really struggling with behavior who would cuss like a sailor when he was in trouble. Our psych and I would tell him that he was welcome to be mad, but if he cussed, he would have to stay it the office all day with me AGAIN and that wasn't his favorite thing to do. So one day when he was in trouble, he said...

"Just shove it up your........

desk drawer".

That one required GREAT restraint to not laugh out loud.

And we were SO proud of him for controlling his words!!!!

Then there was one sugar who was frequently in my office, for days, because he simply refused to work.  He was so very smart, but so smart that he saw no need to do things he already knew. I agreed completely but told him it was about complying with what he was asked to do and that is was not about the work (and then we all worked to get him things to challenge him).

He would spend days with me...and to be honest, neither one of us really disliked it. That boy is still my heart, I love him SO much, even though he is all grown up and in the nuclear engineering program in the Navy now.

Using his brilliant mind and...

Complying.

One of my students could not handle fire drills or tornado drills, they made her absolutely terrified so she became my helper and walked the building to check classrooms and hallways with me. After I would radio in the "all clear" she would radio it in as well.

She is now one of the most confident, independent, caring, loving, wonderful college students in the world.

Middle school kids rarely say anything in the morning. Each day during morning drop off, I would happily say "GOOD MORNING!" to every single adolescent that got out of a car or crossed the street.

IF I was lucky, I would get an "mmmm" syllable back from them.

Except for one eighth grader, he said "good morning" to me every day. I was at a Chamber of Commerce meeting several months ago, and he was now working for the Chamber...still as happy and kind as ever!  He made my day each and every morning.

I love that I occasionally get to watch my kids grow up.  Social networking helps.

They graduate high school, go to college or find careers, some get married, and now they are even having families of their own.

One of my former students who lost her mom to cancer when she was very young just had a baby last week.

I cried tears of happiness for her.  She is going to be SUCH a great mom!

Thanks to social networking, I can stay in touch with my kids and celebrate with them and feel them go through struggles and tough times.  I can remind them that I love them, tell them that they are always in my heart and I'm proud of them!

Educators have the very unique blessing of having hundreds and sometimes thousands of kids.

My kids have blessed me with their gifts of humor, a little ornery, and a whole lot of love.

How fortunate have I been to have had a career that allowed me the blessing of watching the people I spent my days with grow and become the unique and wonderful adults they are today.

That is a gift that you can never adequately thank someone for...

To all my kids....thank you for allowing me to be a part of your lives.

Keep learning and growing...

and thank you for teaching me along the way!