Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Letter to My Students

To my dear LEAP students:

This morning, I awoke to my alarm clock. I tiptoed across my bedroom floor to turn it off, careful to sidestep any sleeping bodies. In the seconds between my slumber and wakefulness, I believed you were staying over with me. Lacking enough beds for all of you, I found you on my floor.

Once I made it into my living room, I realized you were not with me. You were not in my home, my city, my state, or my country. You were not on my continent, nor was I still on yours. As your presence slipped away, the kilometers between us stretched out to no end. I stared at my alarm clock, stunned and saddened to lose you.

I can’t express the weight you carry in my heart. But I know you are embedded there, when I wonder what you are writing and how you feel. When I worry for you, or imagine you walking the school hallways, I feel how much you matter. In those moments, your loving spirits break my soul open.

When I think that you all stayed over with me, that somehow, you are here – that is when your impact most flattens me. There, in the fragment of a dream, I find the joy of knowing you, and the pain of losing you.

Thank you for the precious smiles, songs, hugs, words, and unspoken understandings we shared. You are all special to me, and you’ve earned that space in my heart where you dwell … and those spots on my floor where you sleep.

With much love,
Katie